Grimoire of Evangelion
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: Five years before the rise of the first Wizard King, there existed a royal family of the most unlikely sort. A family of nobles that believed all were capable of greatness, no matter who they were. They were hunted down and driven away from the kingdom, forced to await the day when they could return. That day...is now. The noble House of Ikari...rises once more.
1. Grimoire of Evangelion

Creation began on 04-29-18

Creation ended on 04-30-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion

A/N: I honestly have no memory of who on the site suggested this idea, but after seeing the twentieth episode of _Black Clover_ , I just couldn't stop imagining the possibilities of how to splice the two franchises together. Here goes the first chapter.

 _In the Beginning_

It was five years before the rise of the first Wizard King. Five years before the demon attacked the world. What occurred during that time was, perhaps, amongst the most traumatic events in the history of magic. Only those that knew of the tale did everything in their power to ensure that the rest of the world had no recollection of the truth.

A family, one of the strongest among those with the status of nobility, running through the forest, trying to escape from the wrath of at least ten other families…and failing at every turn, losing members.

"Aaaahh!" The latest final scream heard was the scream of Kana Ikari, the eldest daughter of Rika and Mikazuki Ikari of the House of Ikari.

"Oh, no," went the heartbroken voice of Rika Ikari, barely able to run any further due to carrying her newborn daughter, Suki Ikari, the fourth of her children after Kana, Mana and Tenshi Ikari.

"Mother!" She heard her only son, Tenshi, yell at her, wielding a large sword with inscriptions along the blade. "You have to take Suki and get as far away from here as you possibly can! They won't stop until we're all dead!"

"Not without what's left of you!" Rika cried; she had just lost her husband and her eldest daughters to this family annihilation, and she couldn't bare to lose more.

"You're the matriarch of the House of Ikari now! Grandmother and Grandfather are gone! Our cousins are trying to hold them off, but you're all that matters now! So long as you and Suki survive, the House of Ikari will have a future. Relocate elsewhere! Find a new place to call home! Start anew with someone who will love you! Keep hope alive!"

Rika nodded…and opened her grimoire to the page she and hour-old daughter needed as the forest flames continued to spread.

"There are only three of them left!" She and Tenshi heard a woman yell. "Kill the boy and the baby! We'll save the matriarch for last!"

Quickly muttering the incantation, Rika prayed for the time necessary to make the spell activate.

"I found them!" A man shouted, obscured by the flames and darkness, raising a bow and arrow up at Tenshi. "Die, you treacherous fiends!"

Swat! The arrow was fired and struck Tenshi in his left shoulder.

"Any last words?" Another woman asked Tenshi as she approached the young swordsman.

"Yeah, I do," he responded. "Do you really think killing us all will change anything? Just because we don't agree on how to treat the common folk? My family believes in tolerating and accepting those of commonalty, regardless of their magical affinity or level. We're even willing to accept those with no ounce of magic at all. Everyone belongs. What's wrong with believing in this?"

"This is a world where magic is everything," she explained. "The stronger the magic one wields, the greater their position is. To believe that commoners have what it takes to be just as great as those of nobility are is an insult to everything we stand for!"

"So you murder my family just to prove we're wrong?"

"We're protecting the nobility from the impurities of the commoners. If you care about them so much…you will die like them."

FLASH! A bright, green light shone on the forest, blinding everyone within its reach.

"Aaaurgh!" The people looking for the Ikaris groaned as they covered their eyes.

As the light faded, Tenshi, Rika and Suki had vanished from sight, seeing only a single page on the ground that looked as though it had been ripped from a grimoire.

" _So long as one of us survives, the House of Ikari stands,"_ the page read, _"and when one of us returns, the House of Ikari will rise once more. Strength is found within us all, no matter our status or forms."_

"They got away from us and triggered a prophecy," another man revealed. "They'll be back someday."

"The question is how long until they do return?" Another woman asked.

"That…is the unanswerable question we now know."

-x-

"Where are we?" Tenshi wondered; he had prayed that his mother and baby sister would use the displacement spell to get to safety, not to bring him with them.

They were on some sort of soggy ground next to a large body of water that spanned as far as the eye could see.

"I displaced us in the first alternate dimension I could find," his mother revealed to him. "This is a world where magic is nonexistent and where people rely heavily on something called science and technology. Science is some form of basic sorcery that uses what's already available and involves mathematics to ensure stability."

"Grounded magic?" Tenshi stated.

"Yes…in a way."

"Are the people here…like us? Intellectually, I mean."

"Yes. The year here is Nineteen-Sixty. We're in the Twentieth Century, which will be over in another forty years as the next century begins."

"We can't ever go back, can we?"

"One day, we will, but not right now. For now…we live here on this cluster of islands known as Japan. We try to live in this world."

Tenshi held up his sword…and watched it dissipate into dust that was absorbed into his grimoire.

-x-

 _The Present_

Rika Ikari had been fortunate enough to survive over the years after taking her surviving children and herself to this world without magic and actually living up to the fifteenth year of the Twenty-First Century. Unfortunately, though, she wasn't pleased with the way this world had progressed towards the end of the Twentieth Century; her marriage with her second husband had led to his murder at the hands of his mistress, with whom he was also cheating on with a third woman, and her fifth child, her daughter, Yui Ikari, had married a man who was not the kind of person she would entrust even Suki to if he had a distrustful aura around him (not that Suki was interested in anyone over the years she learned her technological education). Her son, Tenshi, had been in a terrible accident as a result of this Second Impact event and was confined to a wheelchair. While they both could've used their healing magic to undo the damage to his spine, neither wanted to deplete their mana reserves in the likelihood that they'd have the opportunity to return to their world and show Suki where they're actually from.

The only good thing that seemed to come out of their lives here was this young man that was Rika's grandson, Shinji Ikari, whom she had only met a few times over the years since before the passing of his mother, as Gendo seemed to be unwilling to permit even his own relatives to see their grandson/nephew. And at fourteen years of age, she knew that Shinji, if they were back in their ancestral home, would have to wait just another year until his Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony if he had any magical potential. But sometimes, she had to wonder if being stranded here in this world had any affect on the degree of mana inherited by her fourth daughter and only grandson; they might've been Ikaris by blood, but they lived their whole lives here where magic was just a fiction. And the worst part about it all was that Shinji probably didn't remember any of the stories she or Tenshi had told him about the Clover Kingdom and how it was a beautiful place that lacked much in the way of this futuristic technology.

"Mother," she heard her son say to her, catching her attention as she looked away from the passenger window of the train they were on and to him and Suki. "You've been rather quiet for a while. Are you alright today?"

"Just a little curious as to what to expect from meeting Shinji when we get to this Tokyo-3," she explained to them.

"I just expect the same as I always do when I see my nephew," expressed Suki to them. "The truth about how he's been."

"The truth is often darkened by many shades of deception, sweetie."

"But never my reason for having never dated anyone or gotten married over the years. It's hard to describe how I don't seem to fit around places like this."

This wasn't lost by Tenshi. It was due to a sort of dimensional gap within their souls; no matter how long they lived in a world that wasn't truly theirs, these three members of the House of Ikari just didn't feel like they belonged. And for his sister, it was a constant feeling of being unable to belong or being uncomfortable with the state of things. He could only assume that the sort of thing would've been the same for Yui and Shinji had they been brought to the Clover Kingdom due to not being there to begin with and feeling like they didn't belong.

"I guess fifty-five years is too long for any of us to feel like the dust settles," Rika stated.

"Has it really been that long?" Suki asked; it made her feel so old, yet her mother and big brother were both over one-hundred years old, practically the oldest people on the planet that were still alive.

"Too long," Tenshi expressed.

-x-

Shinji didn't like this day at all. Nothing ever seemed to change. It was always the same: His mother was gone, his father left him, they would meet only once a year, and always on this date, like it was a constant loop. He couldn't get why his father never said anything about her or why he didn't keep a single picture of her around; he couldn't even remember what his mother looked like.

The only thing that seemed to interrupt the loop was that he was to meet his maternal relatives again, since he hadn't seen them he arrived in Tokyo-3. Their kindness and love always put a smile on his face, something he never got from his father. Ever.

The cemetery had seen better days. In actuality, this cemetery could've seen better days if it weren't so full of death and despair. It was always a parched wasteland that lacked even the smallest of weeds, occupied by a forest of obsidian grave markers.

"It'd be nice if this place has some grass and trees to look at," he heard a woman say, and turned to face the three people that were his mother's relatives.

"Grandmother," he greeted Rika as she pushed Tenshi's wheelchair across the dirt. "Uncle Tenshi. Aunt Suki. It's been too long."

"Far too long," Tenshi agreed with him. "I think you grew an inch since I last saw you."

-x-

Although it has been many years since the disappearance of the last three members of the House of Ikari, the prophecy that foretold their return still left several of the other royal families resentful of the very possibility that they would return…and with a possible vengeance, to boot. Most notably who were the most resentful of this old prophecy were the older members from the Houses of Vermillion and Silva, supposedly due to their ancestors being the initial cause of their departure from the Clover Kingdom to begin with.

Nozel, eldest male of the House of Silva, stared down at the torn page he had seen since he was little and frowned upon the stories of how the Ikaris disgraced themselves for their beliefs in the commoners being just as important as those of royalty were often perceived. He even felt disgusted by the rumors that this wretched family had made contributions to the people of the Common and Forsaken Regions of the kingdom, something his family wouldn't even dream of doing for any reason.

"You know, staring at that old page isn't going to change anything sooner," he heard his sister, Nebra, say to him. "I just hope they never return."

"If they do, it'll be bad for the rest of us," he reminded her. "If even one of them comes back, even a lowly descendant of one of theirs with absolutely no ties to our society, they would be recognized as true heirs to the House of Ikari and, for all intents and purposes, be viewed as our superior."

Nebra frowned at that fact and could only hope that none of those Ikaris ever returned the Clover Kingdom if they knew what was good for them. The absolute last thing she needed in her life was to be looked down upon by someone of that disgrace that should be the one being looked down upon. Then, she walked further down the hall of the museum that housed the prophecy and to a display case that held a tome with an insignia that was not a clover, but was so dust-covered that nobody knew what it was or what it represented. Supposedly, it was believed to be the original grimoire of the House of Ikari, rumored to bestow itself upon a member of the family that would inherit the total sum of their magical power.

 _It'd be simple to destroy the accursed book,_ she thought, wishing it were possible.

To be continued…

A/N: Here's my first chapter in my attempt at a crossover between _Evangelion_ and _Black_ _Clover_. Any guesses on just how these royal members of the Ikari family will get back and how Shinji, who's more than likely viewed as a commoner rather than a nobleman of sorts, will visit the Clover Kingdom?


	2. The Return

Creation began on 04-30-18

Creation ended on 05-07-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: The Return

Gendo was a man of many rumors, but one such belief being that he didn't have any relationship with his late wife's family was a common factor in why he didn't let Shinji live with them after her passing. The fact that they preferred Shinji over him was upsetting, though he never admitted it, and couldn't see whatever it was that they saw in such an incompetent child. Even as the visit to the cemetery ended, he grew disgusted with their presence and how the Third Child's spirits seemed to lift while in the presence of these three elders that looked as though they should've expired years ago.

" _It's always grand to see you, Shinji,"_ he recalled his sister-in-law saying to the boy. _"You're among my favorite people to see."_

 _What makes him so damn special in their eyes?_ He wondered; none of them ever looked at him the way they looked at Shinji. _He has no scientific achievements, no interests in politics, not even an academically-acceptable GPA. What makes him so worth their time when his only real use is piloting the Eva?_

If only he knew the truth, but even if he knew, it wouldn't have changed his standing in the family. He'd still be viewed as a disgrace due to his own treatment towards his son.

" _Unlike my father, the rest of my family is rather…complicated,"_ Yui had informed him during one of their dates. _"For as long as I can remember, my mother and elder siblings have been waiting for some day to come where they'll be able to look back at everything as though it were a dream they were unable to wake up from. Tenshi caught me reading in one of our mother's old books one time and stressed that one day, they'll tell me what they're waiting for. Whatever their reasons, they're heavy into its belief."_

But to Gendo, it seemed as though whatever it was they were waiting on, it couldn't have been that important to wait for as long as they had been. Not when he was waiting to achieve the Human Instrumentality Project to achieve his reunion with Yui.

-x-

"…You seem to be in poor spirits, Shinji," said Suki to her nephew as they, Rika and Tenshi were at the park. "Has your father finally hurt you in a way that is beyond the physical?"

"No, it's nothing like that," he responded, though his eyes said differently. "Did he really throw away every picture of my mother?"

"Only the ones that he had," Tenshi expressed, "not the ones we got, and we'd never let him have access to those."

Rika reached into her bag and pulled out an old picture of Yui back when she was in college.

Shinji looked at her and thought that they almost looked the same in a way.

"It's like looking in a mirror," he uttered.

"Not entirely," Tenshi stated his opinion. "You're softer, less into things, like a wad of clay that has yet to be molded. Your mother, on the other hand, she was like a surgical scalpel, always sharp."

"That's your opinion, Tenshi," Suki responded, needing to share hers. "She had her blunt side, which she got from her father. Shinji, you don't know this about your mother, but she made her fair share of mistakes in the past. I don't get it with people that choose the way of the scientist, but when you forego your emotions, you take risks that are better off without being taken."

"And what were her mistakes?" Shinji asked, still looking at the picture.

"Well, your father is just one of her mistakes," explained Rika to him. "Another was leaving you behind; it's awful when people with children die young."

"Yeah, it is," he agreed with her.

"Whenever I think about it, maybe we should've just told her what we refrained from talking about," stated Tenshi.

"What did you need to tell her about?"

"You remember those old tales we used to spin for you when you were little?" Rika asked her grandson. "The ones about the kingdom and the people of power and potential?"

"The Clover Kingdom? I love those stories."

Shinji couldn't forget the last time he was told about those tales that were, in his mind, for some reason, better than most other childhood stories that had princesses and dragons or pirates and giant squids. The way his grandmother and uncle would speak of a large kingdom where there was magic everywhere and the majority of the people were capable of performing magical feats would make him feel all giddy. He would often wonder how it was possible for the people of that kingdom to possess such an aptitude for magic.

"What if we were to tell you that those stories were more than stories?" Rika suggested.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

"What if everything they ever told you about the kingdom was as true as there being a place called Heaven and its opposite being called Hell?" Suki suggested, having heard the stories herself, many, many times in the past. "What if they told you that the kingdom actually exists?"

"That'd be…" Shinji couldn't bring himself to say it; part of him, due to being an Evangelion pilot for NERV, wanted to disbelieve this due to being forced into an inescapable feud between people and giant creatures named after several of God's messengers…but another part of him, probably his innocent child self that he still clung to, felt like he should've believed in the stories he grew up knowing because they eased his soul. "That'd be unlike half the things I know now."

-x-

"This prophecy has been aglow all week now," uttered Solid Silva to his elder brother and sister as they looked at the torn page. "It hasn't done this in many generations since those Ikaris fled. Why does it choose to do so now?"

"Maybe it's a sign that the House of Ikari is due to return at any given moment," suggested none other than Fuegoreon Vermillion from the House of Vermillion, who had shown up to observe the glowing page that he, like the rest of his family, grew up knowing about over the years. "If so, it would be quite the honor to meet a member of such a house, even if they are just a descendant."

"They're an insult to the kingdom," Nozel expressed. "They should never return."

"That's not for any of us to decide. If this page is truly meant as a prophecy, then it is designed by powers beyond our own magic. You cannot fight back against fate, what is preordained to happen."

"You're not one to talk, Fuegoreon," said Nebra to him. "Last time I checked, House Vermillion didn't do anything to drive House Ikari away."

"No, House Silva was one of the royal families that decided to dispose of House Ikari simply for their beliefs," Fuegoreon responded; his house's ancestors had taken no involvement in the feud he had felt that was just other families looking to get rid of one that tolerated everyone. "Still, should they return, I would gladly shake hands with one of their members. Should they return."

As he turned to leave, his cousins of House Silva frowned in disgust over his willingness to be accepting of people from the House of Ikari. Personally, they felt their ancestors should've killed them all when the opportunity presented itself to them.

Letting even one of them live, even if they were just newborn, was a sign of shame and weakness.

-x-

Shinji had to be honest with himself when he returned to Misato's apartment after his day out with his maternal relatives, and that was how he just didn't feel much for the cello. Not that he didn't mention it to anyone except for them. He just…didn't have any passion for it.

" _You shouldn't do something you have no taste for, Shinji,"_ his aunt told him before he left their hotel. _"I hope that you one day find your thing that gives you passion. When you find that, you find another step that takes you to wherever it is you want to go."_

But he didn't know what his passion truly was. He didn't get any satisfaction…from anything he did. Not even piloting the Eva to protect the people or obtaining his father's acceptance brought him any real joy. But if he didn't like any of those, just what was out there for him? Where was his passion?

"Seems like you had a good day with your relatives," said Asuka, being sarcastic towards him, not really caring as he looked at the picture of his mother in the living room.

"Yeah, I did," he responded, not really paying attention to her. "I did."

"Who's that?" Asuka wanted to know when she took notice of the picture he was looking at.

"My mother."

"You two look alike."

"Thank you."

Asuka walked away; the boy seemed to be ignoring the world around him in favor of the picture of the woman he thought he lost because of his father.

-x-

"…So, they gave him a picture of his mother," Sub-Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki stated to Gendo in his office that evening, responding to the discovery of an old photo of Yui now in the Third Child's possession. "It's not like they gave him a video game or something."

"Their unforeseen arrival in the city is an inconvenience to NERV," Gendo expressed, "and their treatment of him is interfering with his status as a pilot to the Eva."

"That doesn't change the fact that they are his family, Ikari."

"These three should've kept to themselves."

"They were within their rights to apply for custody of him after his mother died. You simply put an end to their claim by pressing the difficulties of their advanced ages."

"He needed to be deprived of any emotional attachments."

"Well, you didn't succeed. They still had visitation rights to see him."

"What is it that they see in him?"

"Maybe it's not what they see, but, rather, what you don't understand, Ikari. Shinji is their only relative on his mother's side. He is blood. You, on the other hand…aren't."

Ring-ring-ring! The phone rang and Gendo answered it.

"Yes?" He questioned. "How long ago was this? Very well, alert the pilots."

As he hung up, Fuyutsuki could only guess what the situation was about, and how serious it was going to escalate until resolved.

-x-

"…So far, that's all we know," Misato informed the pilots on the Twelfth Angel that just appeared in the sky in the city. "Approach it carefully, see what it does, and, if possible, try to lure it out of the city."

Shinji understood his orders, but was really concerned about his maternal relatives, whom were most likely evacuated to the civilian shelters away from the city. There were still things about the stories they shared with him that were missing details that he needed clarity on. He promised himself that once this Angel was defeated, he would go back to see them to know more about these…grimoires that people had in the Clover Kingdom. As far as he could understand, they were just books that fill themselves up with creative means that enable those blessed with magic to achieve greater feats.

As he looked up at the black and white sphere that floated the air, the Third Child sighed at how passive this Angel, if it was even one, was. The previous Angels would show up and cause a ruckus one way or another, but this one was just out there where the world could see it.

 _The houses that seek your end must be shown your potential,_ he heard a voice in his head, just as he willed the Eva to raise its gun into the air and shoot at the target.

Unfortunately, he never got to pull the trigger, as the sphere disappeared from sight…and the ground around the purple Eva turned dark, dragging it in.

"Aah! I can't get free!" He shouted.

-x-

Gasp! Suki shuddered at the shelter, in a corner with her mother and brother.

"Suki, what is it?" Tenshi asked her.

She raised her left arm…and revealed the hand was see-through.

"And something's wrong with Shinji," she told them.

"Tenshi, your legs," Rika gasps, pointing to her son's knees, seeing them disappear.

"What's going on?" He questions, raising his hands up as they started fading away. "Mother?"

Rika was unsure herself. But as of late, she had been feeling an increase in the decline of her mana reserves needed to extend her natural lifespan. The very mana in this universe was limited, stagnant in that it seemed like the Earth had very little due to the limited life that remained after Second Impact. Not even an experienced mage, such as herself or Tenshi, who was barely into his rank as a Senior Magic Knight before Suki was born the day they became the only known survivors of the family annihilation that drove them away from home, were able to draw more than a day's worth of mana from the world around them every few months, and they needed that mana just to lengthen their lives by a few precious minutes.

" _There were demons in the kingdom?"_ Shinji had asked her when he was just six years old, learning of the creatures that inhabited the Clover Kingdom. _"Were they…strong?"_

Yet there was something about the way he asked her that question that had her puzzled; if she had access to her stronger spells, she would've been able to determine what happened to him when his mother died. There was just no detailed explanation for what happened to Yui when her son was four. Not even her husband would say what really happened…or why Shinji was there when it happened.

"Suki!" Tenshi yelled, and Rika saw her daughter fade from sight completely.

Then, without warning, she saw her son disappear from his chair.

 _What is going on? Where did my children go?_ She wondered, looking down at her hands, barely seeing them. _What is wrong with Shinji?_

-x-

The prophecy was flaring now! Electrical sparks and fiery arcs were surrounding the torn page, spreading concern for the managers of the building due to the intensity of the magic infused within it. The air was thickening with an energy unlike what the Magic Knights of the Golden Dawn and Silver Eagle squads were capable of. Even the ground began to tremble under the weight of the power.

"This could be the strongest degree of magic ever!" The twenty-eighth Wizard King, Julius Novachrono, expressed in his excitement; when he was alerted by Rill Boismortier of the Azure Deer squad, his fascination with the age-old prophecy peaked.

"It just keeps intensifying!" Rill informed him, afraid. "Could this prophecy be coming true now?"

Seconds later, the page started unleashing bursts of electrical energy so intense that the display case holding it shattered.

"My God," Julius shuddered as the bursts were occurring every three seconds now. "Their return is near. Their return is near."

-x-

"…What do you mean, that sphere is the Angel's shadow?" Asuka questioned Misato as NERV was watching the Angel as it floated over a dark patch of land that most of the buildings in Tokyo-3 sank into along with Unit-01.

"That's what Ritsuko was able to determine," Misato explains, "meaning the shadow that sucked in Shinji…is the actual target, sustained by an inverted AT-Field. Instead of repelling everything that hits it, it takes them into itself."

"Well, what about Shinji? How long can his Eva last without external power and the internal battery operating on low-power mode?"

"If Shinji doesn't do anything rash, he has at least sixteen hours of life support."

"Do you not think it odd that an Angel shows up just after his relatives do?"

"Probably a coincidence, Asuka."

"It's hard to believe that when the only other family he has is a man that wants nothing to do with him or them."

Of course, Misato barely knew about the Ikaris due to Shinji's file lacking information on his maternal relatives; she had to suspect that this was deliberate because of Commander Ikari's estrangement from them and their own adoration of Shinji. All she knew from the file were their names, current ages and last known residences. Everything else was completely redacted, just like with the letter that was sent to Shinji when the Third Angel attacked. She believed there was more to these three individuals that Shinji seemed to take more to than anyone else he could've in the world.

"It's part of the job to risk our lives against the Angels, but who do you think they'll blame the most if he doesn't come out of this alive?" Asuka asked her.

"If they love Shinji, they'll blame anyone that had anything to do with him in this mess," she sighed.

-x-

"All they found was a wheelchair abandoned in one of the shelters," a man from Section Two informed Gendo, returning from a survey of the shelters to ascertain the whereabouts of the Ikaris. "Nobody knows where they went and they were out of camera range."

Initially, Gendo had planned to remove the three from the city to keep the Third Child from seeing them so that he had no distractions, but it seemed somebody beat him to the punch.

-x-

 _Where… Where am I?_ Shinji's dissociated consciousness wondered, not feeling as though he were inside the Entry Plug.

 _Shinji?_ He heard a female voice call out to him as he tried to open his eyes. _Shinji, are you there?_

It sounded like his Aunt Suki, but he couldn't say for sure. He could barely open his eyes to see anything around him.

 _It's so bright and silent here,_ he heard a male voice. _I can't…see anyone…see myself…no mana left to keep alive… Am I…dying?_

 _Tenshi?_ Shinji heard a second female voice around him. _Suki? Shinji? Yui? Where are you? Where are we? Are we finally going home? I…don't know, anymore._

Shinji felt like he was floating somewhere, but vision was blurred, preventing him from seeing anything. He barely felt his body, unsure of if he was alive or dead. There was no sense of smell, no sense of touch, not even a sense of taste within his mouth. There was just no…sense of anything around him besides that of sound from the voices of who he perceived to be his maternal relatives.

 _How long has it been…and how long until it ends?_ He wondered, losing consciousness.

-x-

"…Is this…Commander Ikari's order?" Rei asked Ritsuko, who informed her, Major Katsuragi and the Second Child of the plan to deal with the Twelfth Angel.

"It is," she explained.

The plan to defeat the Angel involved dropping the remaining N² bombs into the shadow body while the remaining Evas used their AT-Fields to negate the Angel's. It was hoped that this plan would force the Angel to release its hold on Unit-01 while at the same time destroying it. However, the plan, according to Major Katsuragi, was not without substantial risk to Shinji, who would not survive, whether the Eva was damaged extensively or not.

"We shouldn't," went Asuka, which surprised Rei; as someone prone to violence against an enemy, the albino had expected the redhead to jump at the opportunity to defeat the Angel.

"There's no other way to deal with it," Ritsuko explained.

"Explain that to the ones that have to deal with this if he doesn't survive, and I don't mean his father."

Misato knew Asuka was referring to the Ikaris that Shinji was fond of and that tried to get custody of him after his mother died. If Shinji died, they would definitely blame each of them for his death.

"Find an alternate solution to the one you think will work," Asuka suggested. "One that doesn't include the risk of killing him."

-x-

"…The magic's unstable!" Nozel Silva yelled as the leaders of each magic squad gathered around the prophecy as it unleashed more magical energy.

"How long until it blows?" Yami Sukehiro of the Black Bulls questioned.

"At this rate, it could go off at any second now!" William Vangeance of the Golden Dawn suspected, just in time as the torn page's prophetic energy spiked again and caused the stone floor to split in half.

"You should've brought that Magic Knight with you, Yami!" Jack the Ripper of the Green Mantis squad declared. "The one without magic! He might've been able to deal with this!"

"No way!" Julius expressed. "This prophecy hasn't caused any actual harm yet. What's more, we can't stop it from happening. It's preordained. Whatever's going to happen is supposed to happen."

As more flaring and arcs of energy emanated from the page, the ceiling above their heads began to crack under pressure from the magic.

"We may have to clear the building," suggested Mereoleona Vermillion of the Crimson Lion squad.

"Clear the building, everyone!" Kaiser Granvorka of the Purple Orca squad yelled.

Everyone had no choice but to turn and run away from the prophecy as it continued its bout of magical energy venting.

-x-

The fact that neither pilot wanted to go through with this plan that Ritsuko stressed was the only solution to their current predicament didn't change Gendo's order for them to carry it out. Their priority was to eliminate the Angel, no matter what, regardless of the danger to the Third Child's life.

 _I don't want to do this,_ thought Asuka as she got into position in Unit-02; it wasn't like she cared about Shinji, she just didn't want to hear that his relatives would be devastated by his possible death.

Rei, in Unit-00, didn't know if Unit-01 would survive such an attempt on the Angel, but hoped that Shinji would survive the devastation.

Not even Misato wanted them to carry out this order, as it was just too risky. But it was out of her hands now; Commander Ikari transferred command of this operation to Ritsuko.

CRASH! The two-dimensional shadow body of the Angel began cracking and shattering on the ground, spilling out what looked like white light.

"What's going on?!" Ritsuko demanded; the plan to extract the Eva from the Angel hadn't been implemented yet.

"We're reading instability from within the Angel!" One of the technicians explained.

The Angel's three-dimensional shadow turned black and began to look as though something were trying to escape from it.

Pierce! A beam of white light shot out from inside, followed by another beam…and another…until dozens of beams of light had shot out from every angle, making it look like a sort of mace without a handle or a morning star.

"It's…disappearing," went Asuka, concerned that something was not right about this.

As the last bits of darkness disappeared from sight on the Angel's body and shadow, the whole of Tokyo-3 was enveloped in light.

FLASH! It felt like an explosion, but no secondary sounds were heard apart from the clashing sound, obscuring everything and blinding people's vision for a few moments.

-x-

A massive light shot out of the building in front of the Magic Knights and into the sky, assuming a monstrous form for three seconds before shooting out across the Clover Kingdom! Ten lights shooting across the entire terrain, as if forming some sort of cage. The light shone brighter, obscuring everything. And then…it ceased, and the light dissipated.

The torn page, the prophecy, flew out of the building and into the hands of the Wizard King himself, who looked at it.

"Sir?" Yami asked.

"The prophecy…has been fulfilled," Julius declared to him and the other Magic Knights.

"You mean," went Dorothy Unsworth of the Coral Peacock squad, having been awakened by the intense magic given off by the prophecy, "the House of Ikari has finally returned?"

Solid, Nozel and Nebra looked to one another and felt threatened by this now, though they said nothing. The fact that the prophecy had finally come to pass explained enough to them. Now, they had to deal with the new situation.

"But…if they've returned," said William, "where are they? I mean, shouldn't they have come here?"

"One possibility is that they need to be found," Charlotte Roselei of the Blue Rose squad suspected; if this were any other group of people, she would think the same thing.

"Each squad goes to where those lights shot out," Julius ordered. "Find the members of the House of Ikari and return them to the capital."

-x-

The city was restored, but no trace of the Eva was found. No signs of the Angel, an AT-Field, not even the Entry Plug were reported.

"Where…where is he?" Misato demanded to know from Ritsuko; this was her operation, so she needed to take responsibility for the outcome.

"We don't know," she answered; it was the honest truth, that they didn't know where the Eva, not the pilot, went.

Asuka and Rei, both confused by this phenomenon, were left to wonder the very same thing that Misato was wondering: Was Shinji dead or alive?

-x-

Opening her eyes, Rika found herself laying on some grass beside a large tree, shaded by its massive branches. A feeling of energy surrounded her as she struggled to get up.

"Aah…ahh…" She groaned as she turned her head left and right. "Where…am I?"

"Mother?" She heard Tenshi's voice call out to her. "Can you feel it, Mother?"

Rising to her weakened feet as she leaned against the tree trunk, Rika saw her elderly children laying a few feet away from her on the grass beside other trees.

"This place feels very soothing," said Suki as she got up to her feet. "It's not like Japan at all. I actually feel comfortable out here for the first time in a long time."

Rika held her hands up in front of her…and watched as they glowed bright blue…as mana surged through her veins, replenishing her depleted reserves!

"Tenshi… Suki… We're home," she told them, smiling.

"The Clover Kingdom? We're actually back in the Clover Kingdom?" Suki asked; the last time she was ever here was when she was a newborn, and although this was home, she felt alien to her new surroundings. "But…where's Shinji? Shouldn't he be here with us?"

Rika looked around, but there was no trace of Shinji anywhere. But that didn't mean he wasn't around. Most likely somewhere else in the kingdom.

"We have to find him," she told her children, but then realized that none of them were in any condition to do so as long as their bodies were in such decrepit states. "As soon as we rejuvenate."

She took out her grimoire, opened it to the necessary page, and channeled the mana around her through the spell that would undo their current state.

"Rejuvenation Magic!" She called out, feeling the mana flow through her body like a tsunami. "Full Body Vitality Restoration!"

The spell flowed through herself and her children, restoring their mana reserves and forcing their bodies to revert in age back to where they were at their strongest (or in the case of Suki, back to the age where she would've been at her strongest).

Tenshi felt the sensation in his legs and spine as his wrinkled skin straightened out and lost its spots and frailty whilst his graying hair became ebony and glossy once more.

Suki shrunk down in age as her graying hair became ebony and her muscles full of life.

Rika sighed as her body reverted in age and her flesh feeling like she had just been immersed in a hot tub made to smell like vanilla and cherry blossoms.

In less than a minute, the three were restored of their mana reserves and made young again.

"We must be in a Grand Magic Zone," Rika suggested. "That's the only way this spell would've worked the way it did to restore us."

"Ah," Tenshi sighed, able to stand on his own for the first time in a long time after so many years. "I must be twenty-three again. That was when I felt I was at my strongest."

"Hey, I'm younger than you two!" Suki complained about her rejuvenated age as she stood in front of them, her clothes baggy and loose. "My clothes don't fit no more!"

"That's because you're fourteen years old again, sister," Tenshi informed her, conjuring up a small mirror for her to see her restored face.

Suki looked like a young teen with long, ebony hair and blue eyes; she didn't cut her hair shorter until after she had turned seventeen.

"I'm the same age as my nephew," she accepted this as when she was at her strongest had she been trained to be a mage like her mother and brother had. "Now we find Shinji?"

"Yes," Rika told them.

-x-

"The magic given off by that forsaken prophecy has thrown off the magic in this place," said Solid to his brother and sister as they investigated the wilderness of the Clover Kingdom's western region, unable to tell where the prophetic magic ended and where the natural magic of the environment began. "I can't separate the two."

"None of our location spells are working, either," added Nebra. "It's like they don't want to be found."

But Nozel didn't have time to complain about his siblings' complaints. The fact that the magic unleashed by the prophecy had been from the Ikari family left him bitter over one crucial fact that he couldn't ignore, and that was how the magic it gave off was far stronger than the combined magic of these three members of House Silva put together. If anything, it was just as the old stories they grew up knowing stated about these Ikaris, and it was that they were among the strongest of houses.

 _And if they're back, they could be stronger than all the current houses put together,_ he suspected, meaning they were a threat to House Silva just by being here or elsewhere in the kingdom, possibly even in a Grand Magic Zone.

-x-

"…This sign says _'Welcome to Hage'_ ," said Suki to Rika and Tenshi as they found themselves out of the forest now.

"Hage?" Rika questioned. "We're in the Forsaken Region of the Clover Kingdom."

As they entered the small village, they saw very few people and large patches of cultivated land used for farming.

"What is it?" They heard a little boy ask an adult woman.

"I'm not sure what it is," she responded.

"Uh, excuse me, miss," Tenshi uttered, getting the woman's attention. "What's going on here?"

"There's a large…thing over by the remains of the demon's skull," she explained, pointing away from the village to something beyond the trees nearby. "We're not sure what it is. It could be a golem, but it could also be a stature. Everyone's too afraid to go near it if it's sleeping."

"Could you describe it for us, please?" Rika requested, wanting to know its appearance before they did anything else.

"It looks mostly purple with some green spots, has two arms and legs, and atop its head is a long horn. It might be armored or something."

The three looked at each other and got the feeling that it wasn't whatever the people here thought it was. They were reminded of what Shinji had told them, against the policy that NERV had to keep the public from knowing and getting suspicious. But if it was true, then it meant that Shinji was here, just inside a colossal behemoth that wasn't made from magic.

"How far away is this demon's skull?" Suki asked the woman.

-x-

The Black Bulls and the Golden Dawn, despite their orders to search for the remnants of the House of Ikari, had to investigate this other phenomenon that was in the village of Hage that frightened the people. Something about a giant with a horn.

Whatever it was, both Asta and Yuno wanted to make sure it wasn't a threat to the village or the people.

-x-

"Oh, God," Rika gasped, covering her face at the sight before her eyes.

True to their belief, Evangelion Unit-01 was present in the Clover Kingdom, kneeling in front of the remains of a large skull with a statue of a man atop of it.

"That behemoth looks uglier than Shinji described it," Suki expressed her opinion. "We have to get him out of it if he's in there."

The three approached the downed Eva and then Tenshi formed a stone pillar that shot them upwards until they were at the height of the Eva's nape. Even when the one-hundred-meter giant was kneeling, it was still an impressive eighty meters in height.

"He said they always put him in the neck, right?" Tenshi asked.

"Yeah, that's what he told us," Rika answered, looking at the armor on the back of the Eva. "Okay, let me try something (she opened her grimoire again and searched for a spell to aid in opening the Eva). Here goes. Steel Aid Magic: Release the Seal!"

The Eva rattled as its back opened up and released its Entry Plug, which flushed out its LCL into the air as its top hatch opened.

Suki hopped onto the plug and looked inside, seeing Shinji, but he wasn't the only person she saw inside the plug.

"Mother, you should take a look in here," she told Rika, who did just that. "Is that who I think it is?"

Rika looked at the second person in the tube atop Shinji's waist and was in awe over who it was.

A woman, well into her late-twenties, with pageboy hair that was the same shade of ebony as theirs were, and as bare as she was the day she took her first breath of life.

"Yui," she spoke, recognizing her fourth daughter more than she recognized her other children. _The question now is how is she alive when she was reported dead?_

-x-

The two squads arrived in Hage and saw the giant that was being spoken about.

"Why are those three on it?" Gordon Agrippa of the Black Bulls mumbled, pointing to a man and two women on the back of the creature.

Whoosh! Noelle Silva of the Black Bulls felt an unsettling degree of mana emanating from three and the behemoth.

"Those three," she uttered. "They must be who we're looking for."

"The House of Ikari?" Asta asked her. "Are you sure it's those three?"

"Or five, maybe," said Luck Voltia, pointing to what those three were doing.

-x-

The light on his face stirred Shinji momentarily as he opened his eyes to the world around him, seeing a countryside-like setting and a large cave with three holes in it and a man atop it.

"Where…where am I?" He wondered, and lost consciousness again.

To be continued…

A/N: Here we have it. Now that the three Ikaris native to the Clover Kingdom have returned, what will transpire for the two that aren't native to the kingdom? I look forward to the next chapter. Peace.


	3. Home

Creation began on 05-07-18

Creation ended on 05-11-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Home

It felt like a long time since Shinji ever felt like he could just sleep in, but there was something about it that didn't feel right. He felt like he was supposed to do something, but he couldn't put his finger on just what it was. Someone had once told him to fight a threat to the human race, but someone else was telling him that he didn't have to, anymore. He was confused, but he was also exhausted and in need of rest.

Struggling to open his eyes again, the boy could barely comprehend where he was as his vision was still obscured. All he could make out was…perhaps a girl looking down at him, but he was uncertain. A scent of vanilla filled his nostrils, and he closed his eyes again.

Suki, looking after her nephew, sighed as he was still not strong enough to get up yet; she and the others had deduced that the length of time he spent in the Eva had drained him of much of his energy. Not to mention, he had stunk like the interior of that tube he and his mother were inside of, and it smelled an awful lot like blood, requiring the both of them to be washed thoroughly.

 _Please, wake up soon,_ she encouraged her nephew. _We just got here, and you should see where your unexpected aid returned us, even though the whole place is vastly different from what it once was._

-x-

Opening her eyes for the first time in many years, Yui Ikari, staring up at a stone ceiling, wondered why it felt like she was in her physical body rather than in the Eva. She raised her left hand up to her eyes and flexed the fingers, seeing them move just as the nerve signals permitted.

"It's good to see you're finally awake, Yui," she heard a familiar voice say to her, and she turned to the right of the room she was in, seeing a young woman she had only recalled in old photos.

"M…m… Mother?" She asked.

"Yes, Yui," Rika answered her; as much as she was happy to see her alive, Rika was suspicious of how she was unchanged from any further progression in age after being declared dead when her son was barely four years old. "How do you feel?"

"Lousy."

"I'd probably be, too, if I woke up after a prolonged period of what you went through."

"Where…am I?"

"A hospital in the Royal Capital of the Clover Kingdom."

It was what her mother said that bothered her right now. Yui considered herself a rational woman, but each time she heard stories about a place beyond the realm of logic and comprehension, she had to consider the possibility that her mother (and her elder brother and sister, by extension) were somewhat unhinged over the years, no matter how good they played the sanity card.

"You…you need to stop with these stories, Mother," she expressed, needing to get it out there that enough was enough. "It's the Twenty-First Century, not some medieval realm of swords and sorcery."

Rika sighed, knowing that Yui was lodged into science and technology and so on that didn't allow for the belief of magic, and told her, "Where you and Shinji are from, it is, but here, daughter, your precious science and technology have little place to settle around."

Holding out her right hand, Rika conjured a sphere of thread and cotton, shaping it into a small doll made to look like Shinji had been the day her youngest daughter had supposedly died, and handed it to her to prove it was real.

"It's not an optical illusion…or an hallucination, Yui. You're not on anything. This…is all real."

"But… No, no, no, I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming, and I'd like to wake up now."

 _Forgive me, ancestors, for I have sinned against my own child,_ Rika thought…and then slapped Yui across her face, hoping that it sunk in that what was happening was actually happening and not a figment of her imagination.

Yui, actually feeling like she'd been slapped on her face, looked back at her mother in realization as her sense of scientific logic wasn't going to help her this time.

"Well, I guess we're not dreaming after all, are we?" Her mother questioned, and then pulled her out of bed, dragging her to the closed window behind her.

"No!" She gasped, thinking the worst of her mother just because she tried to disbelieve this. "Wait! Please, Mother! I'm sorry!"

Rika pushed the window opened, letting the sunlight in, and standing her daughter out in front of the world beyond them.

It wasn't what Yui had expected at all. The city was massive, but made of stone and wood, not glass and steel. It resembled medieval castles built atop mountainous areas protected by dragons or knights. In many ways, the place was just as her mother had described it in the childhood stories.

"H…how is this possible?" She asked, dropping to her knees in disbelief.

"I was hoping Shinji could explain," Rika suggested, offering her a hand. "He might know how we were able to return here after so many years."

"Shinji is here?"

"He's sleeping just down the hall from here."

-x-

For reasons beyond the Magic Knights' understanding, the magic used by any of them had failed to affect the Evangelion, as it still resided in Hage in the Forsaken Region. No degree of magic, from Spatial Magic to even Water Magic could manipulate the purple giant to move an inch. Each squad's members, even the Silva siblings in the Silver Eagles, were upset about their inability to resolve this matter. Not even Asta's Anti Magic swords worked on it.

"This thing's not influenced by magic at all," Asta expressed.

"How did something like this get here?" Solid questioned. "How does something like this even exist?"

"Maybe they know," Nebra frowned, feeling humiliated by those…Ikaris.

"Permission to speak, sir," Klaus Lunette of the Golden Dawn requested from William.

"Granted," he responded.

"We should seek an audience with the head of the House of Ikari to ascertain information about this…monstrosity."

"If we can't remove this thing, maybe they can."

"We get outdone by this family of…of outcasts?" Nozel questions, enraged by this possibility that felt like a further humiliation for the House of Silva by the House of Ikari.

While most of the Magic Knight squads were still curious as to who these people were, the eldest siblings of House Silva were loathed to being outclassed by people that should've stayed away from the kingdom, never to return, prophecy or no prophecy. The longer they were around, the angrier they got. And the angrier they got, the more they wanted to see these people removed like a weed infecting a garden or a plague attacking a city for nobles.

"Say, Yuno, have you heard about the House of Ikari?" Asta asked his rival for the position of the Wizard King.

"Only that it's been over fifteen-hundred years since any of its members were ever seen," Yuno explained; being a member of the Golden Dawn afforded him access to historical documents not accessible to the public, including the history of noble houses, of which the House of Ikari was among the strongest. "Parts of their history have, however, been omitted from the kingdom's archives."

Nozel, Nebra and Solid all looked at one another and stayed silent about the revelation; the less known about the past, the better.

-x-

A week had gone by since the Twelfth Angel incident, and nothing was reported to indicate that Unit-01 was somewhere in the world. This left Gendo both depressed and infuriated over the failed attempt to salvage the Eva from the Angel's shadow body. Not only was his scenario completely compromised, there was no trace of the Ikaris from before the Angel disappeared.

Section Two had searched their hotel rooms and all they found were their bags, a camera and a photo album full of old pictures.

As he looked at the album, Gendo frowned at the photographs of Shinji with these three people over the years after Yui died. Even when the boy didn't see them as much as he probably wanted to over the years, the few times he did spend with them left the child feeling happy that he had people that cared about him and were willing to admit it.

 _They never should've came here,_ he thought bitterly, turning to the next page where he saw a photo of his wife with Shinji, infuriating him further. _They never should've came here at all._

-x-

With some renewed strength, Shinji opened his eyes and looked up at another unfamiliar ceiling in front of here, made bearable by the fact that he was laying on a mattress that felt like it was made of soft materials.

"Shinji?" He heard a female voice say to him.

Turning to his left, he saw a young girl that seemed…almost familiar to him, but he couldn't place her somewhere from before.

"It's good to see you awake," she greeted him. "How do you feel?"

"I feel…" He started, but couldn't find the exact words to finish his answer to her.

How exactly did he feel right now? From his perception, he knew he wasn't at NERV HQ; the setting didn't seem based on any modern locations he knew or had seen before. The bed he was on was the most comfortable he had ever been on. And this girl that sat beside him was not a classmate he had seen at school or was either Asuka or Rei…but felt familiar to him for some reason. How could he describe his current state?

"I don't know how I feel right now," he responded. "Uh, who are you?"

"I'm…" She stopped herself due to the realization that Shinji had no clue that she was a rejuvenated Suki Ikari, regressed in age back to her fourteenth year of life where her mana reserves would've made her the strongest she had ever been.

"Wait a minute," Shinji stopped her as he started to realize something. "I… I think I saw you before in a picture. It was an old picture. There was a tower."

 _Tokyo Tower,_ Suki suspected, _or the Sapporo TV Tower_ _…_ _or the Nagoya TV Tower. I was in those three towers during my fourteenth year. We were tower hopping during our vacations._

"You were dressed in a winter-themed school uniform," he explained.

"Tokyo Tower…during the winter season," she uttered, but then covered her mouth when she realized she spoke of her memories of that time. _Oh, no._

Shinji slowly got up and got a better look at her, getting a clearer description of the girl.

"You had a good time…even though you never felt like you never belonged," he uttered, looking both confused and elated to see her. "You're my Aunt Suki, aren't you?"

"What makes you say that?" She tried to counter him.

"Because she likes to sit by when she finds out I'm sick. She did so when I had the stomach flu one time. The teacher did very little…"

"Because the guy was a complete tool that your disgrace of a father left you with," she finished for him, giving herself away. "Oops."

"Are Grandmother and Uncle Tenshi here?" He asked her.

"Uh, yeah, though you wouldn't recognize them as they are. When we came to and realized where we were, we had to rejuvenate ourselves before we did anything else. The spell Mother used to do so regressed us all back to where we were at our best. In my case, it's fourteen. Tenshi's, it's his early-twenties, and our mother's would probably be the same thing or so."

"You three used magic to make yourselves young again?"

"Mother calls it Rejuvenation Magic. We got rejuvenated through mana."

-x-

The people of the Royal Capital were still in awe over the fact that an ancient prophecy now passed had forced the captain of the Coral Peacock squad to awaken and be more active of the current situation regarding these five individuals discovered in the Forsaken Region with this giant that was unaffected by magic, which left a concerned air lingering around the kingdom as news of this spread across all three regions.

"They're still in the hospital," the vice captain of the Coral Peacock, Kirsch Vermillion, informed Dorothy as they approached the building.

"Has there been any update on their status?" She asked him.

"The healing nurses confirmed that three of them recently used Rejuvenation Magic to regress in age back to where they were at their strongest. These three are actually the original remnants of the House of Ikari; the fourteen-year-old girl was a newborn when she, her mother and brother had to flee."

"And what of these other two? The woman and this boy?"

"The woman is the matriarch's fourth daughter and the boy is her only grandchild. They're members of their house born outside the kingdom."

As they walked into the building, the Coral Peacock squad found members of the other magic squads present and awaiting a further update on the House of Ikari members.

"Word gets around fast regarding this house," said fellow Coral Peacock member Rick Cornell.

All nine squads present were in the hall in front of large doors that suddenly opened to reveal a healing nurse, who quickly turned around due to their invasive presence.

"The Magic Knights from every squad wants to see them!" She yelled to her superiors.

-x-

The recreational garden was the only place that offered a setting for the five family members to have some space to converse over the current state of things.

"Well, this is awkward," said Tenshi to them as they sat at a table under a cherry blossom tree, pouring a cup of tea for Yui and Shinji.

"This is actually the Clover Kingdom?" Yui questioned, a little bothered by the fact that her mother and elder siblings were as young as she was right now.

"It's exactly as you three described it," Shinji stated, a bit uncomfortable around his mother; it wasn't every day you discovered that your mother, whom you were told has been for over ten years to suddenly be alive and well again. "But there is a feeling of…resentment or anger being directed towards us."

Yui looked around them and didn't see anyone else.

"You don't have to see them to know they're there, Yui," Rika told her. "Shinji, how do you know there is a feeling of resentment directed towards us?"

"I've felt uncomfortable ever since we stepped out here," he explained to them. "I mean, more so than around…him, of all people. But out here, it's like someone's out and about around the kingdom…and they have an unexplained hatred towards us."

"Unexplained hatred?" Suki spoke, putting her tea cup down. "I would get it if it was…him…but who would hate us here? I was just a baby when we left and I'm fifty-five now…chronologically. I don't even know anyone here."

"None of us knows anyone here," Tenshi stated the truth. "It's home…but the people we knew are gone. It's not like we're some sort of…omen or something."

Whoosh. Shinji looked up behind him and thought he saw three people nearby…but there was only a wall there.

"Shinji?" Yui asked, and he returned to the conversation.

"Sorry," he apologized, though Rika became suspicious; while her mana reserves may had been replenished, but it would still be a while before her rejuvenated body had adapted to the rest of herself, including her previously-overtaxed mana sensory.

"I think you might have the ability to sense people by their mana, Shinji," she suggested, "indicating some degree of magic potential."

"Magic? Shinji? Really?" Yui questions. "How can he be capable of magic? Doesn't he need… I don't know, like a magic wand or a pendant?"

"Not like those people did in the cartoons and movies, sis," Tenshi stated again, "though, they're good references. Magic is just something you either have potential towards…or develop an affinity towards as you grow up. But it's a rarity, and an extreme rarity for that matter, for anyone to be incapable of magic in one way or another."

"Incapable of magic? You mean, can't do magic, period."

"I spent my entire life in Japan, and I couldn't do any magic," Suki informed her. "One of the things I never got when I turned fifteen was my grimoire, which would help improve one's magical aptitude."

"Being fourteen again in the eyes of the public may mean you have to wait another year until you're fifty-six," Rika informed her again-teenage daughter. "Yui, on the other hand, likely has to do the same waiting game with you and Shinji."

"Huh?" Yui and Shinji grunted.

"It's a kingdom tradition. Fifteen-year-olds receive their grimoires to aid them in the art of magic. Those that miss that day, regardless of how or why, have to wait at least another year for the ceremony all over again. If they keep getting delayed, they keep waiting. I once met a guy that didn't get his grimoire until he was thirty due to being in a coma that held him back for fifteen years."

"Why not just buy a grimoire?" Yui suggested.

"Heh-heh-heh. Yui, this is a realm where magic is everything. One doesn't simply buy a grimoire. It's like what that wand maker said in that popular story book series about a boy wizard and how wands choose witches and wizards. Grimoires choose their mages, not the other way around. When a grimoire chooses you, a bond is formed, and as you mature, so, too, does your grimoire; new spells add themselves to the pages, your grimoire expands with new pages, improving your magic, becoming better as you get better. And when you pass, your grimoire dissolves as you move on from this plane of existence. But that grimoire eventually returns later on to choose a new mage. If one bought a grimoire, they'd be nothing but blank slates."

"And the ones that choose you already have what you need to get started on your future in magical development?" Shinji suspected.

"That's right."

"But…how do you know one has magic potential?"

"Usually? When a grimoire chooses you," Tenshi answered. "Beforehand, whatever magic you do exhibit will either show itself or not, depending upon your talents or elemental affinity."

"Elemental affinity?"

"Magic, fueled by mana, is supported by the elements of the world. Primarily, the four elements of life. Water. Earth. Fire. Wind. Under these can several other elements be derived. Steel from Earth. Ice from Water. But only one element is commonly affiliated to the mage that exhibits it. Those of our family, however, didn't exhibit that limitation at all back in the old days."

"What do you mean? You're saying everyone from our family was special in some way revolving around elemental affinities?" Yui asked.

"According to these two, and they're the experts, the whole of House Ikari is not bound to just the elements," explained Suki, "but the very world itself. The winds, the waters, the ground, flames, storms, flowers, even time and space. The Infinity Affinity, they once called our house trait."

"Infinity Affinity," Yui and Shinji expressed; while the mother still found it unlikely, the son felt like he was no longer listening to a story, but was instead part of the story now.

-x-

Gendo stopped on a page that had a photo he was positive hadn't existed three seconds ago. The picture contained a detailed image of a castle-like community with people dressed in antiquated clothing that looked as though they belonged to renaissance movement. In front a building, he could see Yui, dressed in the same attire as the people around her, with Shinji and three others that looked exactly as his in-laws had in their younger years, all of them looking as though they belonged. Underneath the picture, Gendo read the location as the Royal Capital of the Clover Kingdom, which, based on old conversations with his wife, seemed like something out of a fairy tale.

 _I should've had their visitation rights terminated years ago, regardless of their relation to the brat,_ he thought, looking at another picture he was certain hadn't been taken before in the past or present.

This one depicted the Third Child in what appeared to be some kind of confrontation with Yui, with a younger Rika Ikari in between the two, trying to quell the fury.

 _What is this?_ He wondered.

-x-

A place where science and technology not having much to do with anything, this place might've been to Yui as she looked out at the capital on the roof of the hospital, but the people here were not primitive in either their intellect or environmental engineering; it turned out that even witches and wizards needed to use the restroom every once in a while. But this wasn't the reason she was looking out at the capital. No, she was just outed for keeping a dark secret that, unlike the one her mother and siblings had kept over the years regarding this place, had detrimental consequences concerning Shinji.

It wasn't everyday that your mother not only returns to life, but was actually inside a colossal weapon shaped like a humanoid that was meant for something much more unrealistic than fighting giant monsters that wanted to kill the human race. And this left Shinji…feeling somewhat used and betrayed.

"I guess it's my fault this revelation had the unwanted outcome it had," she heard her mother say behind her. "Yet it explains certain things I became curious over."

Yui didn't bother with looking back at her, as she came over to where she was standing near the parapets and sat on one of them beside her on the right.

"Where is he right now?" She asked her instead.

"Back in the garden with Suki and Tenshi," she answered her.

"How were you able to know what you knew about that day? Not even Shinji knew."

"You know how already. And as for Shinji, I had my suspicions that he was being kept in the dark by his father, but discovering that you were also pulling a deception on him is just as wrong, Yui. What the Hell were you both thinking? I mean, really, what were you thinking?"

"It was Second Impact. It was a bad time for everyone, but it was something that had to be done. He was the only one that could do it."

"You sound like your husband now. He also told Shinji there was nobody else that could do what he was doing."

"And how much did Shinji tell you three?"

"Everything he could. It might've been a rule or policy of this NERV agency to keep the public from knowing what was going on, but Shinji knows about the art of loopholes. He didn't tell the public, just his family."

"I just wanted to show him a bright future for all of mankind."

"Yui…there is no such thing as that. There is only the future, the past, and the here and now. You can't make the future any brighter than what can be imagined, just as you can't make the past any darker than what can be remembered by the people. Even if your desire for a brighter future was possible, that kind of wanting is among the most dangerous of desires. It's not how reality works for most."

"And you would know?"

"We all would know, Yui. If you cross a line that isn't meant to be crossed, you're fiddling around with things that are best left alone. The Eva, these Angels, Second Impact, Third Impact, what you did, why you did it, all of these are because you wanted something that was unrealistic."

"But haven't you ever wanted something of the sort?"

"I did…and still do, but I won't move Heaven and Earth to do so."

"What did you want? What do you want?"

"My first husband, my parents, my brother, my twin cousins, my eldest daughters, the two sisters you and Suki never got to meet, the whole family, together again, but even I know such a desire is unrealistic in life. There is no form of magic, not even science, that could bring the dead back to life. And if one were to even try, they risk condemning everyone that's left to a fate many times worse than what was already done."

"So, what, trying to use magic to restore life is prohibited?"

"No art is prohibited, Yui. Only certain practices. You can teach a dog to fetch your slippers, but you can't make it use a broomstick to clean up the world. You can cultivate a patch of desert, but you can't grow an island."

"Are you even familiar with the Dead Sea Scrolls?"

"I don't need to be familiar with anything that deals with the concept of destiny. Destiny is nothing more than an illusion to delude us. Prophecies, oracles and messiahs, those I do believe in, but the rest of it that relates to destiny on a large scale, that's only a falsehood meant to inspire, lift up or delude."

"How can you disbelieve that?"

"Because there are things greater than that, that don't require it."

"And what if there aren't?"

"Then it's only because people don't have the will to break from that belief. It was only a prophecy that said we'd be back in the Clover Kingdom, but we only returned because we, as in your siblings and I, all promised each other that we would return one day, that we had to believe in the possibility of getting back home. The people here viewed our return as a prophecy that they heard of for over fifteen-hundred years, never knowing if it would ever come to pass or not. Now that it has come to pass, there's no more prophecy, nothing to worry about or concern others with. There is only what happens today, tomorrow, and the day after."

"And you want Shinji to know all of this?"

"If he doesn't learn from history, how do you expect him to get out there and have a better chance to shape his future? His future, Yui, not everyone else's?"

"It's not like he even has any magic, Mother."

"You don't know for sure, Yui. Suki seems to believe that he does; somehow, he knew who she was when she was trying to hide her identity…because he somehow used Memory Communication Magic, a derivative of Communication Magic, to see her in the towers of Japan when she was fourteen back in her younger years. If so, then he demonstrates potential. He could be a mage if he wanted to, same as you if you have potential."

Yui got off the parapet and walked across the roof to the other side of to observe the garden area, seeing Shinji under a tree beside Suki. She couldn't hear them, but based on the way her son was throwing his left hand around in the way, it had to be a heated conversation.

"I don't understand how he can be so calm about being here," she told her mother.

"That's 'cause you think like a scientist. Take all that knowledge you have accumulated over the years and put it aside. Right now, Shinji doesn't have any dreams or ambitions. He doesn't aspire to anything. He wishes things with his father were stable, that the guy didn't see him as just some lackey. Honestly, I see no point in trying to resolve things with him, and I still don't understand why you chose someone like him to share your life with. I understand that everyone's got their demons, but Gendo is a man that clearly doesn't want to deal with his or even build or mend his relationships. What did you see in him?"

"I told you before that he's a good man. People just don't see him in a good light."

"If you just told me the actual truth, I'd been convinced."

"Surely, you've met people that others had an opinion over."

"Eh-heh. You truly are your father's child sometimes, Yui. How often has Gendo given you some measure of grief…or how often have you caused him grief?"

"What?"

"The day you died? The day you conveniently faked your death? You can't just be absolved of your absence without expecting some repercussions. And I'm just stumped at how I was able to restore you to life when my aim was to get Shinji out of that abomination I couldn't believe he was inside when we got here. I used a supplementary spell to manipulate steel to open the back of the Eva…and there you were, on Shinji's waist and legs. Now, whether you were actually trapped inside the Eva…or you purposely melded with it or something like that…is irrelevant to your current predicament. What matters now is what you're going to do about your life now."

"Could you put me back in the Eva?"

"No way, Yui. Even if I could, I wouldn't. If this is you trying to continue destiny or escape your responsibilities, nobody's going to help you do that…and it wouldn't be fair to Shinji if you did, either. You'd just be abandoning him all over again."

"What do you expect me to do?"

"I'm asking you what are you going to do, not what is expected of you to do. There's a difference. People can expect you to do one thing, but you can go do another thing that they don't expect you to do. An example being that I expected Shinji to grow up around his family and be as stable as possible, but instead, he ended up in the custody of some stranger because your husband didn't want a trio of elderly people taking care of him."

"Well, in his defense, you three were mostly at an advanced state of age."

"But that wasn't the only thing he stressed out about our potential unfitness. He had the arrogance to suggest things like dementia or Alzheimer's, even schizophrenia. Did you really expect him to look after Shinji when you did what you did? Or were you convinced that he would stick around? Squat on it for a few days, process all of this. Try to work out your next move. It's not like we're in any rush to go anywhere…and some of the people here have the patience to wait around to see us for the first time in a long time."

That, of course, reminded Yui that, for some reason, all five of them, including herself and Shinji, were suddenly the talk of the capital, either through rumors or in general conversations. An old page that prophesied their family's return to the kingdom had been part of history for generations. And now, just hearing that they were here had made them celebrities in a sense. As her mother turned away, she wondered how she could've been so blind to these childish stories that her elder siblings believed in above everything…and how Shinji had been convinced to believe in them, as well.

" _Nothing is truly set in stone, Yui,"_ she remembered her mother telling her one day. _"Nothing is truly preordained. You believe in one thing while others believe in another."_

-x-

"So, before they appeared," went Julius to the Magic Knight squad captains present in the room in front of him, "the lights that appeared had shot out to the bases of each squad and the village of Hage in the Forsaken Region?"

"That's right, sir," explained William. "The light emanating over three of the ten locations were the strongest, however, and one location's light…just seemed to turn red and black before ceasing."

Hage, the Golden Dawn and Black Bull headquarters had received the strongest of the beams of light…while the base of the Silver Eagle squad got the weakest light that changed colors before it disappeared from sight. Nobody was sure what it really meant, but a few members of half the squads had their suspicions that it related in some way to the Ikaris.

-x-

Missing in action. Not killed in action. That was all NERV could really say about the missing Third Child, that he was just that: Missing. Missing without a trace along with a one-hundred-meter-sized cybernetic weapon designed to fight the Angels.

It seemed the longer he went missing, the more it seemed like he was actually just dead. Though only three people wanted to disbelieve this due to the simple fact that, because the failed attempt to attack the Angel was never implemented, there was no body, and so long as there was no body, there was no proof that Shinji Ikari was dead.

The only other thing wrong with this assumption was that his maternal relatives had also all gone missing without a trace, yet most of their possessions had been left behind, making any attempt to get away difficult if not impossible.

Though Gendo seemed to suspect that they were very much alive, but out of anyone's reach. Only a photo album acting as a sort of window to where they might be…or where they've been.

-x-

Looking at his right hand as he lay in bed, Shinji pondered what to do. He was really in the Clover Kingdom, in a world where magic truly existed, where magic was a common practice for everyone…and where there were no Angels. It felt like he could just shift from doing what he hated to something he could probably enjoy, but he had that lingering feeling that he shouldn't. Even being introduced to the capital with the rest of the family in due time didn't make him forget about the Angels that he didn't want to face, anymore.

"Not easy for you to relax, is it?" He looked towards the door and saw Tenshi with a book floating in front of him.

"You have no idea how much I want to relax," he told his uncle, sighing.

"You've been unable to do that ever since you got to Tokyo-3. That father of yours has caused you tension by making you pilot that abomination to fight giant monsters. That's something only for the comics and cartoons. You're a young man and you need to relax until you get an occupation you can enjoy. I've been researching my Spatial Magic, and once I've mastered it and my mana reserves can support it, I can open a rift in space to go back to Tokyo-3 and give that jerk a piece of my mind."

"Hold on, you can use magic to travel between worlds?"

"Sort of. Spatial Magic only works if you've been to places before. Then you can open rifts to and from those places. For example, if you've been to Osaka and are from Sapporo, you can open a rift to and from one of those two places or the other."

"But…why would you want to go back there?"

"Just because Suki, our mother and I have returned home after a long time doesn't mean you have to be taken from your friends to the city. I mean, they're probably wondering what happened to you."

"Thanks, Tenshi."

The elder man sat in a chair nearby and turned a page in the floating book.

"Is that…"

"My grimoire? Yes, it is."

"Do they always glow like that?"

"Only when opened and in use. They're a source of magical information and instructions on how to use a spell whatever type of magic you use revolves around. Except that the spells are only as strong as the mage that uses them, requiring practice, discipline and effort for anyone. Use a high-level spell with insufficient experience and little mana, you risk causing harm to yourself and/or others if it gets out of control. Use too much mana on a spell that requires a small amount, you risk the same, potential outcome if it were the opposite. But if you open it simply to educate yourself on the spells you're capable of using, no magic is triggered because no spells are being used."

"Can I ask what it feels like to open a grimoire that belongs to you? One that chooses you?"

"The feeling? It's unique to each owner. For some, it's like being submerged in a hot bath or shower, for others, it's a feeling of elation, and it's a feeling only you can experience. I guess you could say a grimoire that chooses you is like the receiving of a sacrament."

"And your feeling?"

"Like the first time I started using magic just to climb up a flight of stairs when I was a baby. Just a happy memory."

-x-

The photo album had to be connected to wherever his wife and her relatives were. This was all Gendo could suspect as he saw photos that weren't there before, seeing them in different scenes with random people.

 _Stories about a place that seems like a fairytale is right,_ he thought, wondering what the picture showing the Third Child with a younger-looking Tenshi Ikari was all about and why a book was floating in front of him.

He turned to the next page, seeing several old photos of the Nineteen-Eighties, and one photo that showed his wife, their son and her relatives in front of a crowd of people as a man presented them.

"…These five are all that remains of the House of Ikari, ladies and gentlemen!" Gendo thought he heard someone say, followed by a series of claps and congrats.

He shook his head and heard only the silence of his office.

-x-

Shinji didn't expect to see so many people out here to greet him and the others of the Ikari family. And it had nothing to do with NERV or the Eva, just the family. It was almost remarkable that there were people that heard of this prophecy and had waited years to decades just to get even the barest glimpse of someone from the House of Ikari. He felt like it was someone's birthday today, and the capital was embracing the party person.

"Never thought people praise other people like this before," he uttered to nobody in particular.

"They don't know us yet," he heard Tenshi say to him, "but they will as time passes. Our interests, our quirks, whatever can be known about each of us."

As he looked at the crowd, Shinji, along with Rika, noticed a handful of people that, despite the positive reactions from those around them, seemed to be less than enthusiastic about their return, particularly a trio of them that looked as though they were sculpted from silver…but not very friendly. Looking elsewhere, the boy noticed a small bunch that seemed to be partially covered by small, black robes in the far background. He almost thought one of them had silver hair, as well, but they were too far back to make out complete features.

"Are you looking at one of the Magic Knight squads, Shinji?" Suki asked him.

"Uh, yeah, the one with the black," he explained.

"I didn't take you for an admirer of the Black Bulls."

"Black Bulls?"

"They're the squad that's considered the most unstable due to some of their members doing more harm than good. But they're actually a good squad, despite their flaws. Say, do you want to be a Magic Knight if you get a grimoire of your own when you turn fifteen?"

"I don't know. That's a whole year from here and now. You?"

"Maybe. As I'm young again, I qualify for an occupation…and I need something to do that determines my magical potential. Back then, I was just a grocer during the day and a security guard at night. Not something I'm proud of. If I become a Magic Knight, I'd be able to help people by using magic. I'd pretty much be like a police officer of the Clover Kingdom, swearing my loyalty to the current Clover and Wizard Kings while serving the people."

"The Wizard King? This man that introduced the people to us?"

"That's right. Who knows, one day, I could be the Wizard Queen. Or is it Witch Queen?"

"Isn't that usurping the heir to a throne?"

"No. I'll explain it to you later tonight."

Shinji returned his gaze towards the people in front of them. The Clover Kingdom, the Clover King, the Wizard King, Magic Knights. There seemed to be a lot to learn about. But one of the things he wanted to learn most…was simply where he belonged here.

To be continued…

A/N: It seems like the elder Silva siblings are by far the only ones angry at the Ikaris for returning. Be on the lookout for Gendo finding a way to the Clover Kingdom and trying to make a claim to things. Yui tried to deny that she was in a magical world only to be shown the harsh reality of it by her rejuvenated mother. And Shinji might have to rely on his rejuvenated aunt and uncle to survive in the kingdom until he's adjusted enough to cope with his dual life; I will have him return to Tokyo-3 to eliminate his MIA status, eventually.


	4. Land, House, Relics

Creation began on 05-12-18

Creation ended on 05-31-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Land, House, Relics

A/N: I'm only saying this quote because it currently matches my writing pace with my stories: _"Everything happens as it must."_ But I'll be honest, I hate the quote because Yui said. Not one of my faves in the franchise, excluding select fanfiction.

Over fifteen centuries and the first problem that the matriarch of House Ikari had to contend with for her family was the most troubling one: Establishing their residency in the Clover Kingdom. The night they had to escape from the slaughtering of their family and friends, they lost everything but the clothes on their backs and two grimoires between the three survivors, leaving them virtually homeless for the time being.

"Some people suggest that we should establish our residency in the Noble Region, Mother," stated Tenshi to Rika as they were looking around the unspoiled land of Hage in the Forsaken Region. "The current Clover King has even expressed his interest in letting us shack up at his palace until we find our own place to dwell."

"No, Tenshi," Rika told him, "we couldn't do that. We couldn't then…and I don't want us to now. We might be of nobility…but we don't really need to live as the nobles do."

"I know. Even when there are those that feel we should live at the top of the mountain, it's sometimes better to live at the base or middle of it instead. I looked at Raque over in the Noble Region, and while it is a beautiful place, I've had my share of a hot climate-ruled setting to last me an extended while. So…the Common Region or here? As the matriarch, you have the most and final say in where we live."

"Here," she told him, crouching down to scoop up a handful of dirt. "The Forsaken Region isn't a forsaken place to dwell in. What's more…is that we're not far from where we once resided here."

"You mean…where the Eva ended up when we returned?"

"Yeah. It must not be a coincidence that it ended up here. And Hage hasn't been around for a long time, meaning it's undeniable. Hage was established…right where our original home was destroyed."

"This region is forsaken…by those that choose to believe it is beyond taking back and making it into something more."

"And let's not forget what else we still have. It turns out the Clover Kings of the past kept several of our salvaged possessions after we fled over the generations, many of which can still be put to good use, and the items that were saved include our family's grimoires."

"The grimoires? You mean, they were saved from destruction? I thought they'd dissolve after their owners died?"

"Not all the time, and these ones didn't. Your father, your sisters, our cousins, their grimoires and some of their other possessions were salvaged. I'm actually looking forward to living here. Aren't you?"

"I just want to avoid one thing: A continuation of what occurred over fifteen-hundred years ago. If we can do that, then this is the best place to be."

-x-

It turned out that the previous Clover Kings of the past had insisted upon the preservation of whatever could be salvaged from the failed eradication of House Ikari since that night the survivors had disappeared from the kingdom. An entire portion of the palace had been dedicated to the items saved from that night, even the most mediocre of things; whoever would return would want their possessions, regardless of how long ago it was when they left.

"I still can't believe it," went Yui, looking at the display cases that showed the grimoires of Ikari family relatives she never knew about, seeing their names under each one. "These two were Kana and Mana's long ago?"

Suki came over from across the room where she and Shinji were examining old figurines that depicted old warriors engaged in battle.

"So, these are the grimoires that belonged to our sisters, hmm?" She spoke, and realized something. "Hey, they were twins!"

Shinji looked at his mother and aunt before turning back to look at a figurine depicting a warrior that, in a weird way, seemed like a cross between a samurai and a demon (or was a samurai evoking the appearance of a demon). He then walked over to a display case that showed a series of key-shaped objects and bracelets made of large, dark beads.

 _These look like they belonged to a woman of the family with a regal sense,_ he thought, but then reminded himself that the entire family was regal, even if he and his mother weren't from around the kingdom. _It's amazing. They're over fifteen-hundred years old, but they look as though they were just acquired recently._

 _Break the ties of dark fates,_ he heard a male voice, and turned his head to the right, looking down a hall separated from the rest of the room they were exploring by a red velvet rope. _Escape the bonds of unwanted destiny!_

"They categorized some of the objects by magical level," Suki uttered upon realization that some of the magical items saved from the destruction of the family's previous home required a certain degree of magic just to hold up. "Father's grimoire is categorized as requiring a high level of magical experience to wield. He must've been a very disciplined mage."

"Or he was just a gifted one," Yui suggested.

Suki looked up at her with an annoyed expression; the truth was that neither woman knew who the elder's father was back in his day. And while both knew the little sister's father had been less than devoted to their mother, Suki had to admit (at least to herself) that the guy was the only one either knew, while their mother and elder brother knew the original patriarch better.

"Can I be honest with you about being here in the Clover Kingdom, sis?" She asked Yui.

"Yeah," she answered back.

"I don't know about you, but I actually feel like I belong," her rejuvenated sister explained to her. "I don't feel like an outsider or an outcast. It's like I'm a puzzle with all its pieces fitting right into place. You ever felt that way before?"

"No, I don't," the scientist responded. "It's hard to believe that anyone can just find where they fit in after arriving to a place they had only spent less than a day in when they were a baby."

"Newborn, and I was taken from here to save my life from attempted assassination, need I remind you, since we're all revealing things."

"Yeah, you fit in just fine."

"You sound as though you hate magic."

"I'm not a believer in magic. How can you believe in magic when it can't be explained?"

"Magic is magic. So long as you have an affinity for it, you don't need to understand it. It's a feeling, an instinct, around you, inside you. And this is the Clover Kingdom. One of four kingdoms where magic is a part of culture and society. Here, magic is everything. Unless, of course, you're you."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You stress over science."

"Because I believe in science. Science explains things."

"Well, magic, then, is just a form of science that you don't understand yet. Didn't you read any of that British guy's works? He actually knew what he was saying when he published those books."

"Arthur Charles Clarke? He wrote science fiction, make-believe!"

"But he was a precursor to what you know as science fact. Everyone that enjoys a little make-believe tends to believe in the impossible. Give in, little sister, embrace the impossible here…and you can do the impossible, be part of the impossible."

Flash! A burst of light appeared behind them and they turned to face it, seeing Rika and Tenshi step out of a rip in space.

"Were you two able to find us all someplace to build our home?" Suki asked them.

"Hage in the Forsaken Region," Rika answered her.

"You mean, right where the Eva is because nobody's magic seems to affect it?"

"Maybe magic is useless against it," suggested Yui.

"No offense, Yui, but you sound like you hate the kingdom in general," Tenshi told her. "None of us are sure why magic isn't affecting the Eva, but I wouldn't say that it's impossible to deal with as time goes by. In a small way, your work of scientific expertise has gathered some interest as an attraction. You, more or less, made Hage a bit popular because of the Eva, and it was already well-known because of the remains of the demon that was defeated by the first Wizard King."

Before Yui could suggest that maybe putting her back inside the Eva could get it moving again, Suki looked around the room and noticed something wrong.

"Where's Shinji?" She asked, changing the subject from the Eva and its false sense of destiny to the whereabouts of one of their own.

Yui looked at where her son was last seen by her and her sister…and couldn't believe that he would just up and go missing.

"Could he have just went to look at the other things salvaged?" She suggested.

"That might be it," Rika accepted, and took out her grimoire and opened it to a page. "Light Creation Magic: Path to the Way."

The book glowed and created a detailed layout of the entire building in various shades of blue light.

"Whoa… Holographic projection?" Yui asked her.

"Yeah," she answered, if only to give her daughter the scientific benefit of the doubt. "Show us where one of our own has gone."

The light projection of the building changed to showed a projection of the room they were in and expanded to show the entire floor, revealing themselves and a small light that was yellow, representing the desired individual. It appeared that Shinji was walking down the hall away from them towards another chamber. Then, the projection ceased as Rika closed her book.

"He went down that way," she told them, pointing to a hall that had been separated from the rest of the place by red velvet rope. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Suki questioned. "Isn't that where other items belonging to our family were salvaged?"

"Yeah, but the red velvet rope means that what was salvaged from long ago was also not meant to be wielded by anyone beginning to realize their potential in the art of magic," said Tenshi. "It's basically where the Clover and Wizard Kings kept our family's more dangerous items that only experienced mages can use."

"Like what, exactly?" Yui asked them. "Wands? Manacles? Stones?"

"Not funny, Yui," Rika expressed; she herself wasn't even thirty-nine years old when she picked up one of the items that was stronger than an old wand she used when she was ten to focus her accuracy when using combat-oriented magic. "You have no idea how dangerous any item our family has could be if misused or possessed by someone with magic and no experience."

-x-

"…Well, this is the only good thing to happen to NERV in a while," Misato stated to Kaji as they walked to Commander Ikari's office. "We lose an Eva and its pilot, we gain two Evas after a freak accident in the US."

Of course, Misato was still upset about happened last week when the Twelfth Angel incident ended with the Angel disappearing and taking Shinji with it, along with his maternal relatives disappearing without a trace. She, Asuka and Rei dealt with this to varying degrees.

Asuka was trying to forget about the whole thing by pretending that Shinji was just off somewhere and would return the second another Angel would appear and save them.

Rei, on the other hand, was trying to contemplate whether or not Commander Ikari cared that his son was MIA or KIA (she tended to focus more on the MIA because there was no body to find, and therefore no grave to bury and memorialize the dead).

"I doubt that Commander Ikari is going to care about Units-03 and 04," Kaji stated his opinion. "Ever since the loss of Unit-01, he's been locked up in his office looking at that photo album we found in the hotel room that belonged to his in-laws. Whether or not it's because he's intent on destroying any photo in it is anyone's guess."

"If it were me, I'd put it in a safety deposit box somewhere and wait for confirmation that Shinji is alive or dead, then decide whether or not to take it out."

"If he were confirmed alive?"

"I'd give it to him. If he lost the only people in his family that really cared about him, he'd have every right to have that album."

Outside Gendo's office was Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, who seemed cut off.

"Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, sir," Misato greeted him.

"Major Katsuragi," he responded. "Inspector Kaji."

"We were on our way to inform Commander Ikari of the transfer order for Eva Units-03 and 04."

"You're not the only one. Unfortunately, he has severed all connections with the rest of NERV and remains in his office with that album from the Ikaris."

"What's so special about it to him, anyway?" Kaji questioned. "Last I ever heard, there was a rumor that he destroyed every photo of his wife."

"Shinji's grandmother gave him a picture of his mother from her college years so he'd know what she looked like when she was alive," Misato stated. "If he destroys that album, there won't be a single trace of the family's history because of his actions."

Fuyutsuki sighed. He might've been at odds with Gendo over many things, but something that had more to do with the Ikari family than himself was going a little too far, even for him. If anyone deserved to have possession of the album, it was Shinji, who cared about his relatives more than he detested piloting the Eva.

"Get back," he instructed the two as he typed in his access code on the panel to Gendo's office.

-x-

It felt like an oversized closet. Not like a walk-in closet, but very spacious, and occupied by several things that seemed to invoke a darker nature to both magic and history. Shinji felt like he was being hypnotized as he walked through the room, looking at the relics salvaged from the earlier centuries of House Ikari's history and overextended exile. From an economic point of view, some of these objects had to be worth a fortune to private collectors, but from a familiar point of view, he suspected that many of these from the time his grandmother, uncle and aunt were much younger than they were now, chronologically, had substantial, sentimental value that made them irreplaceable.

Statues, spears, swords, bracelets, old pages that looked torn out of older books, even old paintings that definitely seem to date back to medieval times, depicting several men and women of the Ikari family with their grimoires, none of which seemed to depict clovers, the kingdom's common theme.

 _There is no such destiny desired by those forced onto a false path,_ he heard the voice again, stronger in its tone as he stood in front of a display case of a book that caught his eye. _Destiny is an illusion, a desperate attempt to delude without power, identity or recognition. The freedom to decide one's own fate is the greatest of powers one has and deserves above all. To break from tradition…or to change it, to embrace life…or cast it aside, to follow a falsehood path…or create a path that is truly yours to take for yourself._

The grimoire in front of him was unlike any that he had either seen or was informed of before. It was predominantly blue, with bits of brown, purple and green, about the size of a hardback journal that contained many pages detailing many things, probably as big as his hands. On the front cover was not a clover, a heart, a diamond or a spade to represent any of the four kingdoms, but instead the engraved depiction of some sort of humanoid with a horn and wings reaching down to a small circle. In a strange way, the depiction reminded Shinji of Unit-01, as if the Eva itself was forever interwoven with House Ikari (or at least a creature the Eva was based off of).

" _O-Nine as in 'Oni', a Japanese Devil,"_ he recalled Ritsuko saying to Misato the day he arrived to Tokyo-3 to meet his father. _"A Japanese Devil."_

 _Why did I choose now to recall that?_ Shinji wondered as he shook his head, feeling disoriented.

 _In the absence of the light that promises hope, look to the darkness that offers the promise of freedom,_ the voice uttered again. _I see you, Shinji Ikari…and your future is one of heartache and suffering if you continue to live by the fate the two that breathed life into you. Escape from your fate, make your own path, choose to embrace life rather than to un-embrace and undo it._

Flash! A light shone in his face and he saw something that bothered him immensely.

A countryside, bathed in sunset light, a battlefield for two Evas pitted against one another. No, that wasn't it. It was a massacre, and one of the Evas was Unit-01, the other one Shinji hadn't seen before. Unit-01 was ripping it to pieces with a fury that was beyond anything he could ever think of doing to anyone. And then, without any hesitation, he saw Unit-01 crush the Entry Plug in its hands…and a human limb fall out.

 _No,_ he thought.

Flash! He then saw Unit-01 gripping a young man in its hand…and then crushing him to pulp as his head splashed into a large pool of LCL.

Flash! People in NERV uniforms getting shot, torched, blown to pieces or reduced to something similar to LCL…and himself at the center of this carnage inside Unit-01, screaming his lungs out.

 _No!_ He screamed, seeing the very planet reduced to a red sphere devoid of life in any form.

 _But you can prevent all of this,_ the voice told him. _This is the future of the false path you were on. Turn away from it, reject the beliefs of those that exploit you in favor of your own, and you will change the course of fate. You still have time…and I have the patience of eternity to wait for you. But for now, forget this happened. Forget…until it is your time to rise._

"…Shinji…Shinji…" Voices called out to him, and he came to on the floor.

His mother, Rika, Tenshi and Suki were gathered around him as he got up.

"Are you alright?" Suki asked him, helping back onto his feet.

"Uh, yeah," he responded. "What happened?"

"You left out the other room we were in and came to this one," Yui explained to him.

"I did?"

"You don't remember?" Tenshi asked him.

"No."

Rika looked over at where he had fallen…and saw the grimoire in the case. All she really knew about that particular tome was that it had been in the family for over forty generations, and that it had a peculiar name to its existence that had been faded out over the years. Its actual name had been much to difficult for anyone to understand, let alone pronounce, but it possessed a simplified common name to go by. She and those before her knew of this grimoire as _Deus Falsa Fatum Ruptor_ , the _False God Destiny Breaker_.

 _They actually categorized this one as requiring a high level of magic,_ she thought, knowing that it took more than just a lot of magical energies to lay claim to this particular item. _You also need to meet its requirements or you can't wield it, whatever those requirements may be._

Shinji shook his to clear his mind of his confusion, but he couldn't, for the heart of him, remember what had happened between now and a few minutes ago. It was like there was something he was supposed to remember, but there was a fog over the few minutes he lost.

 _Why can't I remember anything?_ He wondered as they led him out of the room.

-x-

The photo depicting the family walking away from a book with a depiction of what looked liked a winged Evangelion on it had Gendo wondering something else about his in-laws. He looked to the front of the photo album and saw an outline of a similar being that resembled Unit-01. It was only now that he realized its similarity.

 _Inconceivable,_ he thought.

Beep. The sound of his office door opened up, and he saw Fuyutsuki, Major Katsuragi and Inspector Kaji walk inside.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" He demanded as they stopped in front of his desk.

"We're here to make sure you didn't try to destroy what was left of your son's relatives by destroying that album," Fuyutsuki explained.

"I couldn't, even if I wanted to," he told them, taking out a lighter and holding the book up in front of them. "This is what happens each time."

He placed the book above the flame…and the flame split across it, never touching the edges or even the pages. It was as though the book were protecting itself from harm against Gendo.

"I even tried ripping it up," he continued, "only to find it feeling like tempered steel."

Misato looked at the book and noticed how the symbol on it looked like an Eva…and quickly took it from Gendo to look at the photos herself.

"Hey, some of these pictures look like they're depicting something else entirely," she told them, pointing to a photo that showed Shinji, his mother and three others in front of Unit-01. "How is this possible? I mean, how is this… Is Shinji alive or is he dead?"

"As far as I can determine," went Gendo, "they are all alive, but out of our reach."

"Half of the pictures that show something different look like they relate to these stories that he grew up with hearing from his relatives."

The picture she pointed to then depicted something forming in front of them, resembling a house.

-x-

"Compound Magic: Salvage the Sanctuary," Rika and Tenshi uttered, using their grimoires and combined magic to build the House of Ikari's new house in the village of Hage, three feet away from where Unit-01 was; Rika used a combination of Glass and Wood Magic while Tenshi used Steel and Painting Magic.

Yui couldn't believe this! At first, she wanted to claim that this was an illusion or some form of advanced nanotechnology being used, but she was seeing her mother and maternal half-brother create the materials necessary to build the three-story mansion of a rather-basic, Japanese-style design from nothing but whatever was inside their grimoires. The more she saw, the more she wanted to disbelieve that this was real, even though it was impossible because she was here in the physical plane.

Shinji was again impressed by the benefits that magic could provide for people. And the way his grandmother and uncle were working in tandem to build the house reminded him of what they told him when he asked about the mages' ability to work together.

" _There's no spell for cooperation, Shinji,"_ Tenshi had explained to him. _"When people are able to get along or even set aside their differences in the face of a larger problem, they're able to do more than what they could've done on their own."_

"This is incredible," said Suki, just as impressed as Shinji was.

When they were done, Rika and Tenshi pressed their hands against the front door of the house, confirming its solidarity.

"Well, Mother," Tenshi uttered, "what do you think?"

"I'm thinking that unless we're attacked again by the descendants of the houses that attacked us over fifteen-hundred years ago, this house is here to stay," Rika announced. "And I gotta say…it feels good to be home."

Shinji walked over to Unit-01 and wondered if he would have to pilot it again when he went back to Tokyo-3. He wondered if there were still Angels laying in wait for a chance to attack and exterminate the human race.

"Shinji?" He heard Suki behind him, and he turned to face her. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah, just wondering what's going on back in the city."

"Your classmates and guardian?"

"Yeah."

"I promise you we'll go back to see them. Spatial Magic takes time to master."

"I'm in no rush. I'm actually looking forward to being here. Seeing the people, relaxing."

"When you say it, Shinji, I really do want to believe you, but due to the presence of the Eva, you actually make it hard, and that's understandable. My suggestion to you right now…is to distance yourself away from that parasitic part of your life."

"Parasitic?"

"The Eva's like a parasite, feeding off you every time you're either in it or thinking about it or what it relates to, such as NERV and the Angels. Take a step back through time, back to before you saw the Eva, put it behind you and walk away."

 _If only that were easy,_ Shinji thought, really wanting to kick back and relax, but felt it was going to be hard to do.

-x-

"…This is something out of _Harry Potter_ ," said Kaji, looking at the pictures in the album and saw the next one depicting Shinji with the young girl that seemed to be by his side constantly. "Who is this girl that's been with him in some of these pictures?"

"She looks about his age," Misato suggested. "Probably a girlfriend."

"She's not a girlfriend," Gendo stated. "She's his aunt."

"Suki Ikari?" Fuyutsuki questioned. "But she's at least fifty-five years old."

Gendo turned the pages back to show a picture of a teenage Suki Ikari standing in front of a Ferris Wheel. The woman looked exactly as the girl did in her youth.

"How is this possible?" Misato wanted to know, turning the pages back to the current page where a photo depicted Shinji in a bedroom (presumably his own).

-x-

It was pretty basic and sparse, but Shinji had lived a life where he never had much desire for material possessions beyond what was needed just to survive. Then again, his room was very bare.

"I'd say your room lacks the taste of a lived-in feeling," said Suki to him as she stood by his door, "but that's true for your mother's room, too…and we just moved in."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Did we really have to build it right next to the Eva, though?"

"Helps to reassure the neighbors that someone owns it, even though it's an eyesore…and to keep people from trying to play on it."

"Yet it's unaffected by all forms of magic. How do you dispose of something like that? It's huge, heavy and out in the open where everyone can see it."

"We'll find a way. For now, we just have to put up with it."

"Just so long as my mother doesn't have to go back inside it, I'll put up with its presence."

"Oh, trust me, my mother would chain her to the bed if she had to keep her out of the Eva. Even if she could put her back inside the Eva, she wouldn't do it. It wouldn't be fair to you if she did it all over again. So…your mother has to put up with being your mother and everything that comes with the position until further notice."

"Yeah, thanks."

Suki hugged him and then retired to her room, leaving the boy alone.

Shinji walked over to his window and looked at the view of the countryside and a view of the outer portion of the Noble Region where many of the other families of nobility lived alongside the Clover King and the popular Wizard King. It wasn't a city like the ones in Japan or a large town like he knew from his own past, but he enjoyed the tranquility of the little village. And what was more was that it was a quiet place that was devoid of the modern things that made noise. No cars, no trains, no violence.

"It's home," he expressed, and then looked up at the night sky.

-x-

"…Are they repeating themselves deliberately?" Nozel asked his siblings as they sat in his room in the Silver Eagles' headquarters, speaking of House Ikari. "They could've lived anywhere they wanted in the Noble Region, but instead they chose the Forsaken Region, in some rundown village that those two orphans resided before they joined the Black Bulls and Golden Dawn!"

"Based on the history of that house, they lived in the Forsaken Region over fifteen-hundred years ago," Nebra stated. "Whether it's deliberate or not, it spares us having to see their faces."

"But people are going to be talking about them for months," added Solid, reminding them that they shouldn't let go of their disgust towards the family. "Or worse, years. Which ones are the least likely to go unnoticed?"

Nozel and Nebra looked at him like he had crossed a line.

"As much as I am disgusted by each and every one of those Ikaris, we can't make a move on them just yet," Nozel told them. "And we don't know yet if we're the only ones that hate them."

"The young girl that looks about the boy's age is the elder sister, and she was a newborn when the survivors had to get away," Nebra expressed on Suki Ikari, "but I'd enjoy a shot at her before she got a chance to take me down."

"What makes you think any of them would try to get rid of us?" Solid asked her.

"Because our ancestors tried to get rid of them. They might not show it on the outside, but I doubt the two eldest members, Rika and Tenshi, have forgotten anything about that night. Now, that other mother, Yui Ikari, may not demonstrate any magical potential, and her son may not, either, the fact that they're still Ikaris by blood make them dangerous to our family's very status of nobility. We might not be able to get rid of them now, but when the opportunity to do so presents itself, I will get rid of the girl and then her sister."

"Then I'll eliminate Rika and Tenshi when the opportunity presents itself," Nozel expressed.

"Leaving me with the youngest member, that Shinji Ikari," said Solid.

As strange as it was for the three Silva siblings, while they might've despised their youngest sister, Noelle, for the death of their mother, they hated the Ikaris a bit more than she, simply because they returned and fulfilled a prophecy. And as loathsome as it seemed, this hatred towards their house might've put a pause on their hatred towards her.

To be continued…

A/N: How many expect to have people across the Clover Kingdom talking about the Ikari family for quite some time and who expects to see Shinji explore his new life in said kingdom?


	5. Talk

Creation began on 05-31-18

Creation ended on 05-31-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Talk

"…Say, Noelle, have you ever heard of these Ikaris before?" Asta asked his fellow Black Bull member one day.

"Barely, but I read from salvaged records that they were among the most strongest houses in the kingdom," she answered him. "They were in possession of magic that was far greater than that of other people. Their members could manipulate all forms of magic. Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, even Light Magic. They were into everything. There wasn't any other group that could do what they could."

"They sound very powerful."

"Probably the matriarch and her son," went Luck, sharing his opinion on the family, "but the youngest daughter and grandson don't seem tough. At least not visually."

"I don't know," said Vanessa, setting down her liquor bottle. "I think the grandson was quite cute."

"Say, what if he doesn't have any magic like Asta?" Charmy suggested.

"That's unlikely," expressed Yami to them. "Based on just observing him, he seems intrigued by the people of the Clover Kingdom, but has yet to experience any magical phenomena for himself. Also, he and his mother weren't around when the family was forced to abandon the kingdom, so any magic either would possess is either small or even stagnant."

"Stagnant?" Magna asked. "That's a rarity among commoners only if their experience with magic is small. I mean, maybe once or twice…"

"Or never," said Noelle. "But what does that mean for the two socially? Are they recognized as nobles or are they commoners?"

"They're Ikaris by blood," mumbled Gordon, though the others didn't hear him. "This alone makes them members of nobility."

-x-

"…It'd be nice to know what the three youngest members are capable of, don't you think?" Mimosa asked Klaus and Yuno at the Golden Dawn headquarters.

"The House of Ikari and their prophesied return had always been considered a myth," expressed Klaus, wiping clean his glasses. "My father didn't believe they'd ever come back if they were forced to flee from the attempt on their lives."

"Yeah, that's right. But why would the other houses try to kill them…and why that particular day the prophecy was founded?"

"Based on the records, the day the survivors of House Ikari's failed assassination fled was the day Suki Ikari was born," explained Yuno to Mimosa. "At least ten other noble houses attacked them during that day when they weren't expecting any danger, and because one of their own was only a few hours old, they were the most vulnerable to any assault on them."

"Oh, my," Mimosa covered her mouth.

"Do you suppose that the elder members, Rika and her son, Tenshi, are likely to hold grudges on the houses that tried to kill them all?" Klaus asked Yuno.

"I fail to see why they would desire revenge," he explained. "The people of that time have been dead for over fifteen-hundred years, and the chances of the descendants wanting to finish what was started back then are slim."

"Wait, do the records say which houses had assaulted them?" Mimosa questioned.

"That, for some reason, has been omitted from the records. The question is who would want the identities of the offending houses kept confidential from the public?"

"Someone that doesn't want to be held responsible for the actions of their ancestors," stated Klaus, "but the past cannot remain buried."

"Do you suppose Suki and her sister and nephew will try to join the Magic Knights next year if they get their grimoires?" Mimosa asked again.

"It's possible. If they show interest, it's likely the leaders of each squad will seek to gain them in their numbers. It all depends on what happens in the upcoming year if they obtain their grimoires and attend the entrance exams."

"That Shinji Ikari was quite handsome."

The only thing Yuno was wondering about regarding the Ikaris was the only other member that wasn't with them when they arrived. The boy's father, this Gendo Ikari, who married into the family, was in a whole other world, and wasn't viewed by the eldest blood members as a good person.

 _They seemed relieved to be away from this Gendo,_ he thought, wondering if the man that disgusted them affected their ability to tolerate others. _How does the boy feel, being separated from his father?_

-x-

As Shinji slept throughout the night, whatever thoughts he had of his father were very scarce. In his subconscious, he would try to refrain from having any thoughts about Gendo, reminding himself that he was not in the Clover Kingdom, that he didn't know anything about or believe in it. But there was the minor fear of what could happen if he had been here or if he himself demonstrated magical potential as time passed. If this were true, Gendo would likely try to exploit such a power in a way that was just cruel and unjustifiable.

 _But he's not here,_ he thought as he turned in his sleep. _He's still in Tokyo-3, along with Misato, Asuka, Ayanami, Toji, Kensuke and Pen-Pen. They're in a place where magic doesn't exist. For the time being, I don't have to worry about anything relating to NERV or the Angels._

-x-

Tenshi, unable to sleep, was researching the spells within his grimoire, mainly the ones relating to Time and Spatial Magic.

"Time Communication Magic: Past and Future Perception," he uttered a spell, and his eyes glowed white; the spell functioned as a way of seeing future events from a past location.

And the past location he was thinking of…was Tokyo-3…and what he was being shown right right was a very frightful glimpse of what would be if they had all returned in the near future. People, living and dead, were being turned into orange goop, men in black combat outfits shooting up people in this underground facility, a red giant getting disemboweled and dismembered with a girl inside it by white harpies, and his nephew driven mad beyond any capacity to save. It was frightening, and this was also what would've happened if Yui had somehow gotten back inside the Eva, meaning this glimpse was a warning of what was to come.

"Oh, my God," he sighed as the spell ended. "This is somebody's sick goal for the world. But I promised Shinji we'd go back…and I intend to make good on my word."

He closed his grimoire and got up from his desk to go to his mother's room.

Knock-knock! He knocked twice on her door.

"Yes?" She called out.

"It's Tenshi, Mother. There's something I need to talk to you about."

"Come in."

He opened the door and stepped inside his mother's room. It was only half of how he remembered it, mainly because his father was gone, and there she was, rearranging some old figurines on a mantle place beside her window.

"You said there was something you needed to tell me about?" She asked him.

"Yeah. It's about the future I decided to look into, regarding Tokyo-3," he answered her.

"I'm listening."

And he told her everything he saw, every possibility to why the future was the way he saw it involving Shinji, Yui, and the Eva. He left out nothing, not even the smallest detail.

Rika couldn't believe that Tenshi was able to see all of this from such a powerful spell, let alone be able to use it without the slightest sign of fatigue.

"This goes beyond many kinds of wrong," she told him as she sat down in a chair. "Thank you for telling me this, Tenshi."

"But what now? I promised Shinji we'd go back once I mastered the spell needed to go back and forth, and I have every intention of keeping my word to him, but I don't want anything like this to happen when I do. He does have a separate life from this new one."

"Hmm. This future is only possible if Yui gets back inside the Eva, meaning that it comes undone if she never gets inside it. Take whatever measures you have to, Tenshi. Trap Magic, Restraining Magic, use Chain Magic if you have to. But be firm with Yui. This is for her own good and Shinji's. She might have a little too much of her father's influence in her, but I don't want her trying for something she shouldn't do, knowing that there are repercussions."

"Say no more, I'm on it."

"And Tenshi?"

"Hmm?"

"A month from today…you're to become the family's new patriarch. I can't be the only one in charge."

Tenshi looked at her and was reminded that since his father's murder, his position as patriarch of House Ikari transferred over to the eldest male of the immediate family, which was now him. It wasn't like a power increase; being the head of the house just meant you were responsible for the welfare of each member, not all that different from the position of a responsible parent.

"Understood, but doesn't that require that I take the ritual combat ceremony to evaluate whether or not I can handle the responsibility?" He asked her.

"It's been part of the family's history, but it's only a question of who believes you deserve to be recognized as a patriarch," she explained.

To be continued…

A/N: I'm hoping the next chapter will include the influence of _Black Panther_ film. Many great films influence our way of writing. Peace.


	6. Show them who you are

Creation began on 05-31-18

Creation ended on 06-12-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Show them who you are

Shinji awoke to the rising sun and tweeting birds outside his window, feeling like everything he was currently doing was part of some endless loop he was experiencing for a while. At least today would be different from yesterday; last night, he had the most unusual dream about being at NERV HQ, back in the Eva and crushing some boy he didn't know until he was pulp with a severed head. Knowing his aunt, whom he confided in a bit more than his mother lately, Suki would suggest to him that his subconscious had yet to let go of his obligation to NERV, like it was trying to make him wait for the day that they would go back to the city and he'd have to go back to that unnecessary part of his life that they feared was going to get him killed or worse. He really wanted to let go of the Eva, but that was difficult when the cybernetic giant was right next to the house, now covered in tarp and large chains, like a large, restrained or captured ghost.

For the time being, the people of Hage put up with it, either ignoring it or just wondering why magic didn't affect it.

Shinji opened his window and looked out at the village in front of his eyes, and then looked down at his uncle, who was aiding his grandmother in a section of the garden on the left side of the house.

"Good morning, Shinji!" Rika greeted him, waving at him as she used magic to water several patches of flowers and carrots.

"Good morning, Grandmother," he greeted back. "Good morning, Uncle."

"Good morning," Tenshi responded, laying down his garden hoe to wipe some sweat off his brow. _I still can't believe that nobody knows about these plants. They were pretty common over a thousand years ago. The Star-shaped Herb and Jade Dragonfly Flower, plants seeped in mana with special properties._

It was funny how from their survival exile and prophesied return resulted in the lost of many important things that brought insight to the people of the kingdom. The Jade Dragonfly Flower could aid in determining one's magical level once ingested while ingesting the Star-shaped Herb in its raw state could grant increased abilities, both physical and magical…while two altered variations of it could either suppress one's magical energy, rendering them not too different from the boy in the Black Bull squad…or unlock their magical energy, enabling its usage once more if sealed away.

"How are these plants doing?" Suki, who had gotten up half an hour before Shinji had, asked the two as she stepped outside.

"They grow fast, but not too fast," Tenshi told her. "These will be the first of their kind to be cultivated in centuries since our return. I'm actually looking forward to putting them to good use."

"Which ones are the Jade Dragonfly Flower?"

"The ones with the scale-like pattern along their stems."

Suki looked down at the described plant and was fascinated by its appearance.

"How long until they're fully grown?"

"About three more days."

"Nice."

"Was there something else you wanted to ask us, Suki?" Rika asked her daughter.

"Um, yeah. Yes, I just wanted to know if…you were certain that your measures are going to be sufficient for…that?"

Rika and Tenshi looked over at the Eva, reminded that after Tenshi confided in Rika about the future he saw, they had confided in Suki.

"Yes, I'm sure," Tenshi answered her. "I've taken every measure that will make certain nothing will happen. Nothing may affect it in a way that is trying to move it, but instead of trying to move it, the goal to merely to keep it safe, to keep them safe."

They were speaking in code so as to remain inconspicuous in case Yui was eavesdropping. The precautions Tenshi took were all to ensure that Yui wouldn't get any ideas on getting back inside the Eva and triggering the future he had seen that would happen when they all returned to Tokyo-3. Should Yui make an attempt to get in it, the series of Trap Magic spells he placed around the behemoth would activate, one after another for every try, and alert them before she could attempt to deny anything. So long as neither she nor Shinji could use it, that future could never come to pass.

-x-

Even with so much time on her hands, Yui felt like she should be doing something much greater than exploring Hage. It was such a small town and she didn't even know anyone.

"Hello," she heard a voice behind her, and she turned to face a young woman with blue hair dressed in the attire of a nun.

"You're talking to me?" She asked her.

"Yes, you're the only other person outside right now."

"I'm sorry, I still don't know anyone here."

"That's because you're not trying to reach out to them. I'm Lily, I live at the orphanage church down the street from several of the other houses around the village."

"Uh, Yui Ikari. I live…at that house that was built by my mother and brother next to the purple giant."

"Your family's become quite the talk of several people here and across the kingdom since they returned from their exile."

"I really don't understand how they're being spoken about. I mean, they…don't seem to be that important in any way."

"Oh, that's not true. Your mother and siblings are all that remain of the original House of Ikari before they were forced to flee the day your sister, Suki, was born. They're the only three of any noble house that is over fifteen-hundred years old. Your family, back in the olden days, were among the few noble houses that respected and tolerated people of every status in the kingdom, whether they were nobles like themselves…or commoners like us with little magic. You really have much to be proud of."

"They…accepted everyone?"

"So says the old stories about them. People from as far as Sosshi and Kiten have been making their way to here ever since they found out you set up your residence here and your brother's ceremonial ritual to transition into a patriarch for the family."

"Yeah, that… I can't imagine that actually happening the way it might be expected to."

"Whether it happens the way it's expected to or not doesn't really matter. It's just part of your family's traditions. They're…what's that term some people use? Old school?"

"Yeah, that is true."

"You seem to be under some measure of negative air, ma'am. What troubles you?"

What troubled Yui indeed? She still couldn't get around being here, despite everything that had happened. Her mother had solidified her decision to keep her out of the Eva because of the sense of unfairness it did to her relationship with Shinji, who was currently being as distant with her socially as she had been with him metaphorically for ten years. She was surrounded by people that relied on magic for everything, where science was sparingly used.

"I just don't buy into this," she explained to her her mild disapproval of the whole situation. "I don't believe in the idea that we live in a world where magic is everything. I believe in rationality, in logic, not all of this."

Sister Lily found it odd that there was a member of House Ikari that seemed to resent everything there was to do with magic. It was like dealing with an older, reverse version of Asta in a way; whereas he was the only person in the entire kingdom that couldn't use magic, Yui seemed to be the only person in the kingdom that didn't want to believe that magic actually existed, that it was impossible.

"Why?" She asked her.

"Because…I'm convinced that this is all in my head, that this is a dream I can't wake up from just yet. I can't and shouldn't be deluded into believing that any of this is happening and my son might actually prefer life here as opposed to life back home where magic is just a fantasy."

"But…is your son happy here?"

"I…I don't know. I… We haven't spoken much since we left the hospital. He's…upset with me a little bit for something I did a few years ago."

"What did you do?"

"I left him alone when he was four."  
"That's hard on any child, to be left alone."

"But I didn't leave him alone completely. I left him with his father…who then left him with a stranger…after a lengthy struggle with my mother and elder siblings over who he should live with."

"If it had been me, I would've chosen family over a complete stranger. There are no ties stronger than the ones you know best, most often the ties of blood."

"But the thing of it is, I thought I knew my family…but it felt like they were keeping secrets from me that were too crazy to believe in. I would hear these stories they had about being here, but as I got older, I thought they were going crazy because they grew up during a hard time of war and post-war recovery, that they chose to believe in make-believe because it was an escape for them when reality got too stressful. I honestly didn't believe that any of them were true, that they didn't come from a place that was as real as this."

"And now?"

"Now? I feel like I'm the one going crazy with every passing day. Yesterday, I was saying goodbye to my son for what I had hoped wouldn't be the last time, which ended up being for a long time, and he ended up being distant from me. I went to sleep, and when I woke up, I learned that, within a fortnight, ten years had gone by, some people I worked for were getting ready to do something I believed in that needed to be resolved, but instead of doing that, I found myself relocated to a place that seems like somebody's dream world come true, and three of my family members, instead of being in various stages of old age or failing health, young and beautiful like in their old pictures…and my son, who seems split between life here and life there where he was doing what he was told to do…and he might prefer life here over there."

"Would that be a bad thing for him to prefer life here as opposed to life where he once resided?"

"I just want him to be able to find happiness where things make sense, to embrace living."

"Why not just talk to him, then? See if he's happy."

"And what if he doesn't want to talk to me?"

"Then at least you'll know for certain."

-x-

"…I can't believe the Wizard King is going to attend such a ridiculous ritual ceremony," expressed Nozel to Nebra and Solid as the Silver Eagles were among the Magic Knight squads heading to a waterfall location to see the House of Ikari's patriarchal rite of passage, three days later. "How does something like this work, anyway?"

"From what the house's history tells, the eldest male of the family is permitted to become the new patriarch following the death of the previous one," explained Solid, "but the right to earn the status is achieved through ritual combat, won through either yield or temporary crippling. For ritual combat, if someone doesn't wish for the eldest male to become the new patriarch, either because of a belief of inexperience or something else altogether, they're permitted by right to face off. The only catch is that magic is forbidden during the fight."

"No magic, huh?" Nebra said. "Sounds like a ridiculous attempt to even things out between those with power and those without power. Who would agree to such terms?"

"If this is how they did it in the ancient days, then we could keep Tenshi from becoming the house's new patriarch just by defeating him in this ritual combat," Nozel told them. "If he's beaten, he'll have to wait another year to become the patriarch this way, leaving only the matriarch. They need to be put in their place. The past is dead, and so are they."

-x-

"Are you ready, Shinji?" Rika asked her grandson as she finished preparing the beverage that used the Jade Dragonfly Flower to determine one's magical level.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered her.

"Please, don't call me 'ma'am', Shinji. I'm old, but I'm not that old, anymore."

She passed him the cup and he accepted it.

Shinji took a breath and drank the concoction. It actually tasted like lime or kiwi with a hint of strawberry or watermelon. He didn't feel like anything was going to happen to him.

"Now what?" He asked her.

"Now we find out your magical potential," she answered him, opening her grimoire. "Blood Spirit Magic: Heritage Factor."

Shinji felt like someone set his insides on fire, but he was in no pain. He couldn't describe the exact feeling, but it was like his core temperature was raised.

Rika raised her hands up and moved them across the air around her grandson, measuring the magical energies surrounding him that was being forced to emanate from his blood as a foundation. The look upon her face was one of curiosity and uncertainty; while convinced that Shinji was capable of magic, she had to take into consideration his diluted heritage as a result of his parentage. Her daughter, Yui, despite her paternal heritage being non-magical, did possess some level of magical energy, but it never manifested in her early childhood or later adulthood, which had her suspecting that it might not manifest unless she was around a Grand Magic Zone where mana was in abundance. But Shinji, a result of a union between a woman that never demonstrated any magical powers and a man with no magic at all, might've still possessed a degree of magic as a result of his maternal heritage, even if the chances of it were slim. Then her expression turned to concern, which wasn't missed by Shinjii.

"Is it bad?" He asked her as she pulled her hands away.

"It depends on how one would define 'bad'," she told him, and smiled. "No, it's not bad. The flower and spell did what they were supposed to do, which was determine your magical level. You definitely have some degree of magic in you, but…it's stagnant."

"Stagnant?"

"At a standstill. You probably have more magic in you, but I can't say for sure. You're like a creek that's been blocked off by stones and algae over the years, so water can't flow out properly as intended. The more blocked off the creek, the less water that flows. But…if you remove the stones and algae that block the creek…"

"The water, and therefore the magic, can flow properly as intended," Shinji realized.

"That's right."

"How do we do that?"

"All those exercise techniques that were developed over the years. Yoga, meditation, jogging. To tap into your magic reserves without restriction, you need to remove the stress that weighs you down along with whatever doubts you may have."

-x-

The new picture in the album depicted Shinji engaged in conversation with the younger Rika Ikari in the office of Gendo Ikari, along with a secondary photo depicting Yui speaking with what appeared to be a nun.

"What could they doing over there?" Misato wondered aloud.

"It doesn't seem like either Shinji or his relatives are trying to find a way to return to this world," Kaji suspected. "If anything, it looks like they're just… Living it up."

Gendo turned two pages back, revealing the previous photo of Shinji engaged in a conversation with a young Tenshi, who had a book floating in front of him. Whatever their conversation was about, he felt that it didn't help with their situation one bit.

" _One day, we'll go back, Shinji. Spatial Magic takes time to master."_ He thought he heard Tenshi's voice say.

Misato turned the pages back to the current one…and saw a picture of a grandiose waterfall with people on the ground in front of it.

"Where are they?" She wondered.

-x-

Shinji had never seen a waterfall so beautiful as these falls, and the people from across the kingdom that came to see Tenshi attempt to become the family's patriarch were quite the formidable number that covered much of the shallow falls and grounds.

"Nervous, Tenshi?" He decided to ask his uncle, who was dressed in baggy shorts and armed with only a shield with a short staff attached to it, his weapon of choice.

"Very," Tenshi responded. "I'm hoping I get to challenge someone to become the patriarch."

"Why?"

"If I do it this way, then I'll have truly earned the right to be one, that the position wasn't simply handed to me."

Shinji looked at the people that gathered, noticing several people that were these Magic Knights that he was hearing about, wondering if any of them were considering challenging his uncle to keep him from becoming the new patriarch. He then noticed the squad known as the Black Bulls…and one of the members that had him a little bothered was this boy that had a creepy smile.

"I'm guessing he's Luck Voltia of the Black Bulls," said Suki.

"Luck Voltia?"

"Apparently, if his history is accurate about him, he's insanely fond of fighting anyone strong…and he always smiles. His nickname is Smiling Battle Mania."

"Yikes."

"But he won't fight Tenshi unless his squad captain, this Yami Sukehiro, permits him to."

"Is that so?" Yui questioned; she judged from the way the boy looked that Luck couldn't have been any older than her son and elder sister currently were. _Would they really let children face Tenshi to keep him from becoming patriarch?_

"Welcome, everyone," greeted the Wizard King to the people. "Quite the excitement today. Surprisingly more so that Mr. Tenshi Ikari seeks to become House Ikari's new patriarch through ritual combat. Before this can be attempted, he must have his magical powers locked away."

Gasp! Several people murmured over how impossible it seemed to actually lock one's magic away.

Rika, holding a small cup filled with the Star-shaped Herb variant meant to seal Tenshi's magic away, gave it to her son and watched as he drank the whole thing before handing it back.

"Urgh," he grunted, his face and upper body showing blackened veins as the herb variant did its purpose to suppress his magic. "Urgh."

It lasted for a brief moment, but then he returned to normal, if only slightly weakened from the process.

"No magic is to be used during ritual combat," he uttered.

"Victory in ritual combat…is obtained by either the opponent yielding," the Wizard King explained, "or when either opponent is temporarily crippled and can no longer continue. And if Tenshi is defeated, he won't obtain the status of patriarch until a year has passed and he goes through this rite of passage again. If there is anyone among you that wish to impede this young man…I now offer…a path to him."

One of the Magic Knight captains stepped forward. It was Dorothy of the Coral Peacock squad, still awake since the Ikari family's return.

"The Coral Peacock…will not challenge to impede," she expressed.

Then another captain stepped forward. William of the Golden Dawn.

"The Golden Dawn will not challenge to impede," he responded.

"The Black Bull will not challenge to impede," uttered Yami, which earned a groan from Luck.

Most of the squad captains all declined to have any member of their squads face Tenshi, either out of respect or because most of their members couldn't fight without relying on their magic.

"Is there not anyone that wishes to step up?" The Wizard King asked. "It don't matter who you are, noble or commoner."

Suddenly, Suki raised her left hand up, catching everyone by surprise.

"Suki?" Yui asked her.

"This choker I have on is becoming most uncomfortable," she expressed, her choker being a basic strap with a cat head on the middle. "If nobody wishes to challenge my big brother, can we please wrap this up and call it a day?"

"Ah-ha-ha!" Several of the children present laughed, and Shinji, despite finding it humorous, shook his head in the negative over his aunt's suggestion.

"Cowards!" Everyone heard a female voice yell out. "Do you really want this man, this…Ikari…to be another patriarch?"

From further away stood three individuals with the same shade of silver hair with differing styles.

"Are they members of House Silva?" Suki asked her mother.

"Yeah, they are," she answered.

"Is that a bad thing?" Yui asked.

"I guess you could say House Silva is somewhat…immune to change in their superiority complex."

But Shinji felt nothing but a bad vibe from these three. The same bad vibe that he got when they were in the hospital recuperating. Whoever these members of House Silva were, they just sent a chill down his spine.

Yui looked at them and thought they couldn't be any older than she was when she did her contact experiment with the Eva.

"Nozel Silva," the Wizard King greeted the three siblings, "Nebra Silva, and Solid Silva. What brings you all the way out here?"

"Him," Nebra answered, pointing to Tenshi, "and them (she points to the rest of House Ikari)."

"Ever since they returned," went Solid, "they've been the talk of the kingdom. One of the oldest of the noble houses, the strongest of magic bloodlines, reduced to this shameful display, and only three of them are living remnants from the past. Two of them of the present no better than the commoners their ancestors chose to tolerate and even associate with."

"One of the daughters of Rika Ikari even scoffs at the very fact that magic exists here," said Nozel, "and yet everyone can't stop talking about how great it is that they've returned to the kingdom. But this man, this…Ikari… From what little history recovered of the day they were sent into self-imposed exile, this man was unable to save the life of his own father."

Tenshi couldn't forget that night. His father was among the mid to last casualties of the attempt on their lives by the other houses of that time…and the ancestors of House Silva were among the offending houses that tried to do away with them. But he had no malice whatsoever towards these three or any other member of House Silva's current generation; the people responsible for killing most of his family have been dead for centuries, so there was no need to hold a grudge of ignite a vendetta against the other houses, no matter what others might have thought. The past was past, and the sins of the past were committed by those who had passed.

"We of House Silva will not have that," uttered Nebra. "I say…we of House Silva will not have that! Which is why I'm challenging to impede him!"

"Well, then, I must say, Ms. Nebra Silva," Tenshi expressed, "I look forward to our match."

Nebra must've known she couldn't use magic, otherwise she wouldn't have challenged him at all.

"Say, Noelle," went Asta to his fellow squad member, "who do you think stands a chance at winning?"

"I honestly don't know," she answered; in truth, she didn't want to consider the possibility of her sister losing to a man over fifteen-hundred years, but since most people relied heavily on magic, it was possible that Tenshi had the advantage.

"Don't go easy on her, Tenshi," instructed Rika to her son. "Show us who you are."

The combatants representing Houses Ikari and Silva stood five feet from each other with the Wizard King in between them.

"Magic is prohibited," he reminded them. "Either yield or cripple your opponent. Begin!"

Nebra charged towards Tenshi, wielding a spear as her weapon of choice.

Clang! Tenshi blocked with his shield and hit her on her right shoulder.

 _Wait a minute,_ thought Nebra, barely affected by the blow to her arm. _He had an opening to attack my torso, even my head with that shield of his…but he didn't take it._

They collided into each other and were locked in a grappler hold, never letting go of their weapons.

"You had a chance to strike me severely," Nebra told him.

"I did," he agreed with her.

"You didn't take it."

"The point of this match to either make you yield or to cripple you, not kill you."

"You still could've hit me."

"And be unnecessarily disrespectful to a woman I just met? I'd rather avoid doing that unless I have absolutely no choice."

They pulled away…and Nebra understood why he didn't take the opening that had been made: Tenshi, like most of the other men in his family…was a lowly gentleman. His upbringing and chauvinism prevented him from causing severe harm to a woman unless he was in real danger…and he wasn't in much danger…unless she did something to jeopardize his chance to become a patriarch.

"Nice one, Tenshi!" Suki cheered.

Nebra charged again, aiming for his stomach, but Tenshi blocked with his shield…and knocked her off her feet, causing her to lose her spear. The rules stated that if your weapon was lost and you couldn't find it, you would have to continue the fight without one…or yield or try to cripple your opponent. As she got back up, soaked and humiliated, Nebra charged again and managed to grab him by his left arm and swing him around, causing him to lose his shield, evening the playing field for both of them. Now, all she had to do was break him to keep him from obtaining his status update for his family.

Tenshi, quickly getting up, was grabbed again by Nebra in a bear hug.

"Ha! I got you now, boy!" She yelled at him, and then head-butted him in his face! "Ha-ha-ha! No magic (she head-butted him again)! No grimoire (she does it again)! Not even a simple shield! Just a weak, old man with his youth restored to him! Who are you?!"

With a bloody nose, Tenshi tilted back, seeing his family upside-down.

"Don't give up, Tenshi!" Shinji encouraged him.

"You got this, big brother!" Suki added.

"Show them who you are!" Rika yelled, and he nodded that he would.

"Aaurgh!" He grunted, raising his head back up…and head-butted Nebra in her face! "I'm the guy that's going to defeat you!"

Against his better judgment to bring harm against women, he brought his arms up and bashed the woman on both sides of her head, causing her to release him from her bear hug. Then he kicked her in the waist and sent her falling to the ground, soaking her again.

"You'll pay for that!" Nebra yelled…and pulled something out of the water…and stabbed Tenshi in his chest with it!

It was her spear, and she aimed to use it to cripple him by damaging as much of his left arm as possible.

"How's your arm?!" She yelled at him, pushing the spear deeper into his flesh, drawing blood.

"Aaaugh!" He groaned, dropping to his right knee.

"Can you still fight?! Do you give up?!"

"Tenshi's injured, isn't that crippling?" Yui asked her mother.

"If he can still fight, he hasn't been crippled to the point of defeat," Rika explained. "He has this."

"Aaaurgh! I refuse to surrender!" Tenshi told Nebra, grabbing the spear end. "I'll tell you who I am! I am Tenshi Ikari! The only son of Rika and Mikazuki Ikari!"

He pulled the spear out and ripped it out of Nebra's grip, punching the Silva woman in her face before grabbing her right arm and taking her to the ground, wrapping his legs around her neck. His aim was now a two-way street: Nebra Silva could either yield in this fight…or Tenshi could choke her into unconsciousness or even break her arm, crippling her.

"Tenshi!" The people were chanting, encouraging the man to win. "Tenshi!"

"Yield, Nebra Silva!" He demanded from the woman. "You fought your hardest against me! Now yield! Don't make me break your arm!"

"I'd rather be crippled than yield to you!" Nebra yelled at him.

"Not unless I have to," he told her. "Look around you. I have the advantage. I could choke the air out of you or break your arm. Please, don't make me do either. I respect both nobles and commoners. You fought your to stop me, but you couldn't. Yield, woman!"

Unable to break free from his leg hold around her neck or even get her arm free, Nebra saw very little alternative in this match. She couldn't beat this man; wherever he was exiled to, he clearly had to find ways to get by without magic, making him more versatile and adaptable, and he was all the stronger from his life elsewhere, armed and unarmed. She calmly slapped his legs, surrendering the match to him, allowing him to win the right to become the patriarch of his family.

The people cheered as they both got up, and she walked away to rejoin her brothers, who were just as upset that he won.

"Whoo-hoo!" Suki and Shinji cheered.

"Eh-heh," Yui, despite not seeing any point in this, chuckled as she saw her brother stand proudly in front of everyone.

The Wizard King and Rika approached him, Rika holding a ceremonial necklace of precious stones, like ruby, sapphire, jade and emerald, and Julius accepted it to present to Tenshi.

"Congratulations," he expressed. "I now present to the Clover Kingdom Tenshi Ikari, the new patriarch to House Ikari!"

Tenshi wore the necklace and sighed at how he had now joined his father in the pantheon of the strongest men in the family.

"Congratulations, Tenshi," Rika praised him.

While it pained him to have a bleeding wound in his shoulder and chest, Tenshi brought his arms to his chest in an "X"-shaped cross as he looked to the people.

"Clover Kingdom forever!" He shouted.

"Clover Kingdom forever!" They repeated.

-x-

"…Looks like something went down," Fuyutsuki stated, looking at the other picture that appeared in the album, depicting a celebratory scene with a younger Tenshi Ikari being praised and congratulated by the people.

" _'Clover Kingdom forever!'_ " Misato read underneath the picture. "Clover Kingdom? Shinji actually once mentioned that his grandmother and uncle would tell him stories about a place called the Clover Kingdom. He claimed they were his favorite tales to hear of."

"His mother once mentioned that her relatives held onto a belief of getting back there, eventually," Gendo expressed.

"Getting back there?" Kaji questioned. "That would indicate that they've been there before."

"Then maybe that's where they are right now," Misato suggested, turning to the next page. "Whoa."

The photo that clearly didn't belong depicted Tenshi being tended to by his mother in a kitchen-like setting, sporting a large wound on his chest and left shoulder.

-x-

"…Light Healing Magic: A Mother's Touch," Rika uttered the spell from her grimoire, her left hand glowing brightly as she began to mend the injury Tenshi got from Nebra Silva.

Tenshi had finished drinking the variant of the Star-shaped Herb to unlock his magic, enabling its usage once more, and now was feeling somewhat drowsy.

"Hey, hey, don't doze off yet," Rika told him, almost finished with healing the wound. "Don't slip off into the Ancestral Border yet."

He tried to stay away, but the variant was so strong that it caused drowsiness every time. This hadn't been his first time experiencing it, either; it had actually been his second time, and it was the same as the first time. But the first time, he didn't go to House Ikari's Ancestral Border. There hadn't been a reason back then. Now, he had a reason to want to go there.

"There we go," she stated as her hand ceased glowing, his wound healed.

Tenshi then fell face-first onto the counter, asleep faster than you could say whatever words you wanted to say. He felt like he was drifting away someplace, hearing the sound of an ocean's waves.

"…Tenshi…Tenshi…" He heard a voice say to him.

Opening his eyes, he found himself standing on a beach with a sunset with the sky partially occupied by an aurora borealis. Further down the sandy shores was a massive tree covered in cherry blossoms…and serving as a sort of host to several humanoids. They resembled the oni of Japanese lore, fanged, horned demons, but wearing pieces of armor on their arms and legs and Egyptian-styled kilts, their skin tones varying between shades of red, blue, orange, black, white and purple.

"Honorable ancestors of the House of Ikari," Tenshi uttered, standing before them.

One of the white-colored humanoids leapt from the branches and became a swirl of rainbow-colored lights as it was replaced with the form of a young man, no older than Tenshi currently was. He bore a semblance to Tenshi, but with a more wizened tone to his face, as though he had endured more, and his hair was more spiky, unkempt and had one bang that was gray hanging over his face, wearing a white, ceremonial-styled kimono.

"Father," Tenshi greeted the man, bowing to him; this was Mikazuki Ikari, the previous patriarch of House Ikari.

"You're a patriarch now, Tenshi," Mikazuki uttered. "There's no need for bowing."

He stood back up and embraced his father.

-x-

Shinji, deciding to take a look at the ruins of the remains of the colossal demon that fell at the magic of the first Wizard King, was stunned that such a creature had been such a huge threat in the Clover Kingdom five years after his grandmother, uncle and aunt had been forced to leave. And what was most amazing about the remains were that they were created by just one man, one mage, armed with nothing but his grimoire, his magic and his determination to protect the people. It was incredible to know that there was a world where people had this phenomenal ability, this…this blessing, this power that enabled them to affect the world around them, to call upon forces to aid them in whatever situations they were in, for right or wrongful purposes. And they didn't need something like an Evangelion or had to be born under unusual circumstances just to do something impossible.

"Shinji," he heard his mother speak out to him, and he turned to face her, "what are you doing here?"

"Just looking at the popular spot of this place," he explained to her. "It's not like I'd go to the capital of the kingdom or something. It's quiet here. And peaceful. What did you think I was doing?"

It was still an awkward situation between the two of them, Shinji because he was still a little upset with his mother…and Yui because she wasn't sure how to mend the relationship between her son and herself without feeling like this was all an elaborate lie and they needed to get back to the Eva and leave.

" _That's because you're not trying to reach out to them,"_ she recalled Sister Lily's advice to her. _"Is your son happy here? Would that be a thing for him to prefer life here? Just talk to him."_

"Is it alright if we just talked, Shinji?" She asked him.

"Yeah," he answered, pointing over to a large tree trunk that had been cut long ago.

They sat down at the boy looked up at the night sky.

"Do you actually like it here?" She decided to ask him.

"Yeah," he expressed. "It's so beautiful and gives you a sense of living in a medieval realm where the impossible is possible. And this where Grandmother and the others used to live before Japan. This is their home. Didn't you believe in the stories she and Tenshi told?"

"I just thought they were crazy fairy tales. If they were truly capable of magic, why didn't they use it back when I was little? Why didn't they show the people what they could do?"

"Don't you pay attention to the media that deals with magic? There were probably many reasons they didn't or couldn't do so. Maybe they couldn't do magic while there, or they feared being mistreated like a commodity, or using magic there zapped them of much of their life force. It could be any nor those reasons…or all of those reasons. You could ask them why. I recently discovered with Grandmother that I may possess some degree of magic, but it's stagnant. I want to be able to use magic one day. Who knows, maybe I'll even get to be a Magic Knight."

"But why would you want to do that? I mean, why a Magic Knight?"

"I'm just keeping an open mind. Things have changed since the exile and return. Fifty-five for your mother and siblings, but over fifteen-hundred years for everyone else. The kingdom expanded, there's a military for each of the four kingdoms that share the land, and there's no… Well, there's no need for what I used to do."

Of course, he was referring to not requiring the Eva because there were no Angels to fight.

"Except people who aim to be Magic Knights usually need to have a high degree of magic power and know how to fight."

"Which is how many people are discouraged from even trying to get into the squads. But those that persevere end up getting admission from the captains of one of the squads if they're impressed enough. Nine Magic Knight squads, nine captains that instruct their squads, and one leader that governs the squads and leads the kingdom's magical military."

"The Wizard King."

"The first Wizard King saved the kingdom from a great demon. His very story became legend, and his position became a mantle that is possessed only by the strongest mage of each generation."

"I take it you want to become the Wizard King one day?"

"No. I just want to be a good mage…eventually."

"A good mage."

Yui seemed to get the feeling that Shinji had every intention of believing that he could become a mage one of these days, no matter what others believed. She had done a little brushing up on the history of the Clover Kingdom and found that the majority of the Magic Knights were comprised of nobles from houses that didn't exhibit the same degree of magic that the only two members of their house so far demonstrated…and not many knights were commoners like these two young men that hailed from this village. The chances any other person of such a low status getting admission into any of the squads were almost nonexistent unless they possessed some degree of good fortune.

-x-

"…I can't believe you were defeated by that Ikari, Nebra," said Nozel to his sister back at their squad headquarters that evening. "We should've had Solid do it instead."

"You try facing a man that used to be over one-hundred years old and had to get by without magic," Nebra defended her inability to defeat Tenshi. "These people are like that Black Bull kid with the swords; they had to adapt to situations without the aid of magic…and they're highly adaptable. And despite having his magic sealed away due to some herb, Tenshi was still dangerous. Unless there's someone as adaptable as they are and hates them as much as we do, these Ikaris are here to stay."

Nozel and Solid growled over what felt like being one-upped by House Ikari without the use of magic. And this was just to stop them from obtaining a status update for their house. Not only that, but they felt like House Silva had been disgraced just by yielding the match in front of everyone.

"Next time, we'll disgrace them," Solid uttered. "We'll show them."

-x-

"…Still hard to believe your sister lost to one of them in ritual combat," said Asta to Noelle back at the Black Bulls' headquarters.

"I guess it's safe to say that Ms. Nebra Silva relies heavily on magic," went Charmy, eating a large pastry. "That Tenshi Ikari had his magic locked away and wasn't the least bit hindered, even when he was over one-hundred years old."

"Technically, he's actually over fifteen-hundred years old," expressed Luck. "I wonder what sort of spell the three eldest members used to make themselves young again?"

"House Ikari's members practice every form of magic," Vanessa explained. "They're not bound by the same limitations that we are. They can use Plant Magic in conjunction with Fire Magic, Water Magic in conjunction with Light Magic, Steel Magic with Thread Magic."

"They're basically powerful because their family is the only one capable of such a feat," Magna clarified, "but what about that guy you three fought in the dungeon over a month ago? You said he used Fire and Crystal Magic? For those outside of House Ikari, that should have been impossible."

"Tell that to the guy that was able to use two different forms of magic that don't go together, but he had diamonds embedded in him," Noelle stated, "and his grimoire, it didn't look right."

"Describe what it looked like," Yami instructed her.

"It looked like…someone stitched different parts of two different grimoires together into a patchwork version, like someone actually tried to fuse them together and didn't get as far as they intended."

"Looks like those Diamond Kingdom nutters believed in the stories about House Ikari so much that they attempted to produce mages that were similar to them."

"But that's insane," expressed Asta. "That guy was tough, but he didn't seem to have a natural talent for Fire Magic. That Crystal Magic seemed to be his affinity."

"That's why I said he was an attempt at who the Ikaris are. It wouldn't have mattered if the Diamond Kingdom had done what they did for two-hundred years, you can't pull off who that family is. For them, the use of all forms of magic is as natural as breathing. Even I don't know how they're able to do what they're capable of, just that they have infinite potential to use all forms of magic."

"If they were in our squad, we'd probably be next to invincible," Luck declared.

"I doubt Tenshi will join," Magna suggested, "but maybe his sister and nephew might."

"Which sister?" Noelle asked. "You heard what my siblings said. One of them seems to dislike magic."

"It's gotta be the nephew's mother," went Vanessa. "That Yui Ikari's been rather off. Maybe she never got introduced to magic when she was younger."

"Whatever her reasons, it's unlikely she'd want anything to do with the Magic Knights. Not that my elder siblings will want any of them involved in their squad. I should know, they rejected me. What happened today, they're gonna take it out on the whole family, regardless of their intentions."

"So, basically, if they take interest in the Magic Knights, they got zero chance of getting into the Silver Eagles," Asta realized, "but who's to say that any of the other squads won't want them?"

To be continued…

A/N: Well, the next chapter might involve some jumping into the future through the album in NERV's possession, but there are some hints that Shinji's relationship with Yui might be on the path of mending if the mother can let go of her initial intentions regarding the Eva and Human Instrumentality and accept that magic is real and they're surrounded by people that can use it.


	7. Passage

Creation began on 06-12-18

Creation ended on 06-29-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Passage

"…Hold on," went Asuka to Misato, as she was being informed of what she discovered from a simple attempt to keep Gendo from destroying a photo album belonging to Shinji's relatives. "You're saying that he's alive?"

"Yeah, but where he currently is isn't very technological like here is," she explained to her. "Did Shinji ever say anything to you about a place his maternal relatives might've mentioned to him called the Clover Kingdom?"

"No, he didn't tell me anything like that."

"Well, apparently, whenever he was with his maternal relatives, his grandmother and uncle would tell him stories about this place where there was such a thing as magic and there were people that could use it. Everyone from children to elders could perform magical feats that were unlike what was depicted in the films and cartoons…and it seems like they weren't just stories. Wherever the Angel displaced him, it also displaced his relatives and our only window to what transpires between them is an old album of pictures that shift to show events that aren't from the past in their lives here."

Asuka then remembered how Ritsuko explained that the Twelfth Angel's AT-Field had been an inverted variation defined as a Sea of Dirac, possibly linked to an alternate universe. But if this was so, how could the Angel end up getting defeated before any of them could do anything and displace three additional people that were nowhere near the scene of the battle that wasn't really a battle?

"Do you know where the place he ended up is called?" She asked.

"Based on the information from the album, they're in a place called the Clover Kingdom."

"The Clover Kingdom? It sounds almost as though it belongs to one of four kingdoms based off some deck of cards."

"Maybe, but there were some photos I saw that depicted Shinji looking a bit happier than I've ever seen him before. I don't know, but he might actually consider staying there if he does find a way back to this world in the future."

"But that's crazy. There are still Angels that have yet to strike…and you think he'll screw us all over just because he's in someplace that's primitive and full of magic?"

"I'm just stating a possibility, Asuka."

"Are you… Are you sure it's really Shinji? It's Shinji who's alive?"

-x-

"What are you doing still up at this hour?" Tenshi asked Rika one night as he came downstairs for a cup of water. "It's after midnight."

Going through the pages of her grimoire, Rika looked up at her son and expressed, "Just examining these new pages that appeared in my grimoire recently. It appears that with my rejuvenated state and the restoration of my youth, my grimoire was augmented with new pages containing a multitude of new spells. New spells for Creation Magic, Fire Magic, Dark Magic, even Plant Magic. Did any new spells appear in yours?"

"Yeah," he answered her. "Some Lightning Magic spells, Earth Magic, Steel Magic, Poison Magic, and a few Time Magic spells, too."

"Time and Spatial Magic are representative of time and space, respectively. Be careful if you ever use them together."

"You got it. Tell me something… Does it ever still bother you a little? That fear of what might've been had people like Gendo knew the truth?"

Rika knew where he was going with his question; it was one that had been asked and answered once before, years back, and her response was always the same.

"You know it always does," she answered him, "and the fear of anyone knowing…and deciding how we should live…if you could even call that living…is just as worse as them actually knowing. Which is why nobody ever knew you or I could perform magic. Not that we could've at the time."

"Doing it there required more mana than we could spare since that world's mana was almost nonexistent…and we needed our own reserves just to lengthen our lives."

"So…why bring it up?"

"Just needing to get the water under the bridge…or down the mountain…or whatever I need it to be."

As he got his water and made his way back to his room, Rika stopped him.

"Tenshi," she told him, "the people of today's Clover Kingdom… They don't have the slightest information about what that young man is capable of. The one from the Black Bulls, only what he has demonstrated so far."

Tenshi turned back to face his mother and stated, "They say that he has no magic in him…yet he faces other people with magic and is capable of protecting the civilians of the kingdom as a Magic Knight. What do you think of him?"

"I think looks can be deceiving…and what they don't know, what information that once existed about magic and its applications, is disgraceful and installs a sense of fear of the unknown."

"Then…you should ascertain whether or not what the people say about him is true."

"My thoughts exactly."

-x-

"WHAT?!" Asta yelled, disbelieving his ears when Yami informed him of what he needed to do today. "Really?!"

"That's right," Yami confirmed; Asta had been invited over to the Ikaris in Hage in order to confirm something they suspected that might've been disregarded for a long time. "You've peaked Rika Ikari's curiosity about you, and she wants to know more about you than what was seen at the entrance exam."

"What about you could've gotten the Ikari matriarch curious?" Noelle questioned.

"You'll likely find out with him," said Yami, "'cause you, Grey and Charmy are going with him."

"What?!" Charmy gasped; she couldn't believe that she was going to the Ikaris' house, even though the primary reason was because of Asta.

-x-

Rei wasn't sure how to respond to this knowledge that Shinji was alive in another dimension with his maternal relatives. If this was true, it meant that NERV had no means, whatsoever, to either contact or rescue him. The only window to his current state of being was through a photo album that depicted a few pictures in the form of past events.

 _But he is alive,_ she thought, standing in front of Unit-00. _So, it is possible that he might find a way to return to this world on his own. We just need to be patient._

" _What about your relatives, Ayanami?"_ Shinji once asked her in the elevator. _"Do you have an aunt or uncle? Grandparents?"_

Unfortunately, she couldn't answer his question regarding her background. There was no way she could tell him anything. She was…a complicated individual.

"Rei?" She heard Gendo Ikari say to her, and she turned to face him.

"He will find a way back, will he not?" She asked him.

"We're not sure."

-x-

As a youth without aspirations due to the false death of his mother over a decade ago and being abandoned by his father shortly afterwards, left with only periodic visits from his three relatives that vied for custody over him and lost because of the father, Shinji was not much of anything desirable by most. In some ways, he pretty petite, almost dainty, even scrawny if one chose to demean him. This, in and of itself, also aided in his attractiveness by some; one man that Suki threatened to beat into a coma once when she was elderly claimed that a twelve-year-old Shinji was almost as enticing as any girl could've been, which earned him a black eye and bloody nose. Even to this very day, Shinji lacked many of the things that a man needed to have as they got older, such as strength and endurance.

"Ugh… Ugh… Urgh… Urgh…" He grunted, being aided by Tenshi in doing upside-down pull-ups, hanging from a steel bar he conjured from the wall, all in an attempt to help bring out his magic potential. "Urgh… Ugh…"

So far, he had spent fifteen minutes on this exercise, a previous twenty minutes lifting weights he could lift, another thirty minutes running around the house, to the remains of the demon and back again, and periods in between resting and consuming energy bars and drinks.

"Okay, we'll break again for ten minutes, Shinji," Tenshi told him, watching as his nephew fell back to the floor, barely touching it with his head, drenched in sweat.

"Tell me," said Shinji, looking up at him, "do you think this will help me?"

"Yes. But magic doesn't just present itself will-nilly. You can't force it. It's only been a week since we started your regime to get your magic flowing through you. It'll flow when it flows."

"How was it for you when you started training?"

"Not all that different from yours, except I had to learn not to rely so heavily on magic. You choose to rely solely on it, it becomes all you believe in, that it'll get you out of situations, no matter what. Apparently, most of the Magic Knights are this sort. My father, your maternal grandfather, Mikazuki Ikari, once claimed, _"Anyone who can't be adaptable in the face of adversity, exploring their potential outside of the use of magic, can't hope to survive in the world when difficult situations occur"_. So, even if your magic has yet to manifest itself and get to doing basic things with it, you'll still have an edge in adaptability. Physical strength, endurance, determination, resourcefulness and so on."

"What's your specialty outside of magic?"

"Swordsmanship. I learned it from the time I was twelve."

Helping his nephew onto his feet, Tenshi could see that the regime was helping Shinji to a degree so far. If one squinted, they could see that, beneath his small frame and bare, upper body, the signs of muscle development were present.

"You're actually thinking about joining the Magic Knights?"

"Sort of."

"Aiming to be the Wizard King one day?"

"No. When I become capable of magic, I want to be a good mage."

"A good mage?"

"You're a good mage. Grandmother is a good mage. I want to one day be as good as you two."

"You have a ways to go to be as good as we are. But I like where you're going. Your first aspiration. You stay true to it, and you'll get far."

He threw Shinji his shirt and handed him a cup of the energy drink.

"Hmm?" Shinji went, looking out the window, seeing four people approaching the house. "Are they members of the Black Bulls?"

Tenshi looked out and responded, "Rika requested to see Asta of the Black Bulls. People say that he can't use magic, but that might be a falsehood assumption."

"He…doesn't look like he can use magic."

"But he has a grimoire, meaning what he can do…and what others say he can't do…are two different things. If so, Rika and I might know why and how he can do what he's been stated to be capable of."

"I don't know much about him myself, but if he's really able to do what everyone else says he can, then he must be a powerful Magic Knight."

"He recently got promoted to Third Class of his Junior Magic Knight status."

"What's that?"

"Like I said earlier, you have a ways to go before you're as good as we are, Shinji."

-x-

Noelle had never seen anybody's home to be so…so simple, so basic, and this was the noble House of Ikari, one of the strongest royal families in the kingdom. But…it was striving for a lived-in feeling over a regal and elegant feeling. So, just as the old stories about them stated when she was little, members of this house weren't raised to be like the nobles of other houses, not like her, her relatives, but like the people from the lesser regions.

"Welcome," went Rika to them, dressed in a green yukata and bowing her head to them. "I've been looking forward to meeting you."

Asta, despite his previous history with members of nobility, didn't feel any sense of negativity from this woman that invited them over, and bowed his head to her.

"Hello, Mrs. Ikari," he greeted. "Thank you for having us over."

"Please, have a seat. You must've been on your feet for quite some time."

They sat in the living room area, though Grey was reluctant to do.

"You must be Grey," Rika stated. "Whenever you're ready."

Suddenly, Shinji, Tenshi and Yui came into the room.

"Hello," Shinji greeted them, and noticed Grey a bit differently from the other members of the Black Bull squad. "Hello, ma'am."

"Huh?!" Asta and Noelle gasped.

"Shinji, that's not a woman," Yui told her son; at least to her, this Grey didn't look like a woman.

"Actually, sis, Shinji's right," Tenshi clarified. "I'm surprised that he was able to see through Transformation Magic so quickly."

"Transformation Magic?"

Grey then unleashed smoke around them as her grimoire performed another spell. When the smoke cleared, in place of the large, shadowed man was a blue-haired woman of average height, dressed in a blue and white dress with flowers on the waist area. Unlike her fellow Black Bulls, she seemed to be almost completely shy and easily embarrassed just to be in their presence.

"Hello," she greeted him. "Nice to meet you."

"Wow," Yui uttered, unable to believe that her son was right, and she couldn't see the initial transformation as nothing more than a disguise.

-x-

"…It's hard to focus on the photos that represent where they are when they're next to old photos of how they lived," Asuka told Misato, looking at the album in Gendo's office.

"His grandmother, aunt and uncle seem younger," said Rei, who was also present to look at the album.

"They most likely used magic to make themselves younger," Misato suggested. "So far, it seems like they're just living from one day to the next."

"They were introduced to people?" Asuka questioned, pointing to a photo where it looked like Shinji and his rejuvenated relatives and mother were revealed to the people.

"His uncle was in a ceremonial battle?" Rei pointed to the photo where it seemed Tenshi was engaged in a battle with a woman with an odd hairstyle.

"He looks like he's fitting in," Misato expressed, turning to the most recent page they had yet to see.

"I'd like to see him finding a way back here with the Eva," went Gendo, who was there with Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko.

"Wherever this…Clover Kingdom is, we can't exactly just call them up and tell the boy to focus on finding a way back," Ritsuko clarified. "What is this picture here?"

The picture she pointed to depicted Shinji and Suki standing in front of a giant, presumably, mummified humanoid that was right next to the house he lived in with the others. It stood out due to the exposed horn on its head.

"Unit-01?" Fuyutsuki questioned.

-x-

"…I can see why some would think this is a regular grimoire," Rika explained to Asta, examining the cover of the boy's grimoire after asking if she could see it. "It has accumulated such a degree of dirt that it could be overlooked for any other grimoire. Is it alright if I tried to clean it?"

"Sure, go ahead," he answered her, and she took out her grimoire.

"Mist Healing Magic: Cleanse the Filth," she uttered the chosen spell, and the dark grimoire was enveloped in a small sphere of water vapor.

Slowly-but-surely, the grimoire was starting to look better. The dirt, dust and grime that had accumulated onto the book long ago had begun to dissolve, stripping its cover and pages of filth. When the sphere disappeared, Rika took hold of the book and held it in the air, revealing its five-leaf clover symbol on the front and back.

Gasp! Rika looked closely at the clover symbol and then at Asta.

"Asta, do you have any idea what this is?" She asked him.

"No, ma'am," he responded.

"This is the Black Clover. This is the original grimoire associated solely with Anti Magic itself. From this grimoire spawned at least one-hundred-fifty other grimoires that revolved around Anti Magic."

"Anti Magic?" Noelle questioned. "But…he doesn't have any magic…right?"

"That's something I'd like to confirm over denying. Would you be kind enough to drink this, Asta."

In front of the boy was a beverage with the Jade Dragonfly Flower mixed in.

The boy partook of the drink, and then Rika performed her spell to ascertain the truth.

"Blood Spirit Magic: Heritage Factor," she uttered, and the truth was revealed to her as she moved her hands around the air in front of Asta. "Just as I thought. Those that say you don't have any magic were clearly deluded or deceived by the type of magic that flows through you."

"You're saying that he actually has magic?" Charmy asked her.

"Yes. The magic he has an affinity toward is the rare Anti Magic, the opposite force of all other forms of magic that exist in the world."

"I don't understand. My grimoire just allows me to use two swords that nullify magic," Asta explained.

"That's the basic gist of Anti Magic. Breaking it down, magic can be defined as a sort of positive power that exists in the world. For example, you Magic Knights use magic to create something that is essential to your situations. Anti Magic, however, would be viewed as a negative power that exists. In its basic state, Anti Magic simply returns all existing magic back to the nothingness it came from."

"Nothingness?" Grey uttered.

"Nullification, negation, canceling out. It unmakes whatever magic it's used against. Your squad may have a great edge against any enemies of the Clover Kingdom. If he continues to get stronger, his Anti Magic will make him a force to be reckoned with in the future."

"How do you know so much about Anti Magic?" Noelle asked her.

"As a mage specializing in multiple forms of magic, it's part of my profession to understand and practice multiple forms of magic, including magic that the most of the world has forgotten about."

Asta looked at his cleaned grimoire and at the clover, curious about why there were five leaves on it instead of four leaves like Yuno's.

"Faith, hope and love reside within each leaf of the clover," said Tenshi, having kept silent throughout the conversation. "Depending upon the number of leaves on the clover usually determines the future of each grimoire owner. A clover grimoire with four leaves often leads its owner towards a future where they'll be remembered as legends. Good luck and fortune reside within the fourth leaf. A clover with five leaves, however, some believe is an omen of darkness. Based on nothing but old tales of bad luck, the Black Clover, that is any five-leaf clover grimoire, represents the Devil and Death. However, that is nothing but a falsehood belief. The fifth leaf represents the mage's potential, their determination and commitment to their objective."

-x-

Shinji found the idea of Anti Magic being among the greatest forms of magic to be quite impressive when he heard Rika state that the basic function of it was to nullify other forms of magic, even as he stood in front of the covered Eva that had all these different markings on the sheets and ground. He even wondered if she and Tenshi could perform Anti Magic among their other spells.

"I'd be careful around those runes, Shinji," he heard Suki say to him, running over from behind. "Those are Trap and Restraining Magic runes. You trigger one of these, and you're a prisoner of whatever's used to trap or restrain you."

"Sorry," he apologized. "Just feeling somewhat envious of others around me right now. Everyone can do magic and I've yet to do any for myself."

"I know how you feel. I want to use magic, too. We just have to wait until we get our grimoires, and then we'll be doing magic like everyone else."

He looked up at the exposed horn of Unit-01, hoping that the day he got his grimoire would be the day he could finally begin his goal to becoming a good mage…and walk away from his life as an Evangelion pilot for good.

"Mind telling me what you want to do first with a grimoire?" Suki asked him. "I take it that it might relate to this monster here."

"Do you think being a mage gives people a clean slate?" He asked her back.

"A clean slate? In what way?"

"You get to walk away from something in your past and towards something else in your present."

"Like walking away from operating this monster?"

"Yeah."

"If you want it to be a clean slate, then it is a clean slate…if you're strong enough to take it."

He turned to face her.

"The day we get our grimoires can't come fast enough."

"Don't be in such a rush. We're not going anywhere."

He then looked over at the four Black Bull members as they walked out of their house.

"They are," he pointed out.

-x-

"…I wonder what he's thinking in that moment?" Misato wondered as she looked away from the photo of Shinji near the mummified Eva and towards a photo of him inside what appeared to be a church. "It looks like they practice religion over there, too."

Gendo, however, mentally scoffed at the idea of religion; he was both an extreme atheist and one that despised any notion that any deity was infallible, regardless of the disorder that existed.

"That's strange," said Ritsuko, looking at the photo. "Shinji looks like he's been working out for an extended period…and has bandages wrapped around his arms."

In the picture, Shinji was with his mother inside the church, and he did indeed have bandages wrapped around his wrists, like he had hurt himself over time and was on the mend. In front of them was a large cross with a four-leaf clover on it instead of a person.

"Look at this picture here," Asuka pointed to one where it looked like a bunch of books floating in the air above several people. "What do you suppose this is, some kind of ceremony?"

They all looked at the photo and each came to their own theory over what the picture represented.

Ritsuko suspected that it was an event where people could receive a book of their choosing.

Misato and Fuyutsuki thought it might be a part of the culture of where they were.

Gendo believed that it might've related to whatever it was that enabled them to see different photos of different scenes in the album.

Asuka and Rei both had a feeling that whatever this was about, Shinji was one of the people involved.

-x-

It wasn't exactly a whole year, but this was the month and day that the Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony took place within the Grimoire Tower of Hage. This put Yui, Suki and Shinji in the center of the scene where dozens of young people were surprised to see three members of House Ikari, two of them over fifteen (one of the two women over one-thousand years older than the rest of them combined) and the third still fourteen. As the ceremony was still underway, people were barely able to contain their excitement over getting their grimoires.

"How do we even know we're deserving of a grimoire?" Yui questioned.

"You'll know when one chooses you," Suki told her.

Suddenly, the walls that held the bookshelves lined with dozens of grimoires started glowing as said select books began to remove themselves from the shelves and float around in the air above the people's heads, glowing different colors.

"Incredible," Yui expressed as at least three books so far had flown past her.

From the sidelines, Rika and Tenshi watched as the grimoires started to choose their owners.

"Hmm!" Tenshi went. "Mother, did you feel that?"

"I did," Rika responded. "Something has left our house."

Young men and women grabbed hold of their grimoires and began to look at the pages, seeing what spells they had enough magical potential to use in the present or how far they would have to go to fill their pages with the spells associated to their magical affinity.

"Oh!" Yui gasped, now holding a large grimoire with a gray, hardback cover. _Whoa…_ _I have a grimoire of my own now._

"Ah-ha-ha!" Suki cheered as a grimoire with a scarlet, hardback cover was in her hands. "I told you, Yui! You have a grimoire now. Embrace magic!"

A full two minutes had past before there were a few grimoires left floating in the air. Interestingly, however, none of them had made any attempt to go anywhere near Shinji just yet.

"That's odd," said the master of the Grimoire Tower, Drouot, taking notice of this. "None of them are going anywhere near the boy."

Another minute past and the last grimoire in the air ended up in the possession of a girl with green hair.

Shinji Ikari was the only person within the tower that hadn't received one.

 _This is last year all over again,_ Drouot thought, wondering if this boy lacked any magic like Asta was believed to have been before the current Ikari matriarch confirmed and distributed the discovery that he had the affinity of Anti Magic, which was a form of magic that didn't conform with other forms of magic. _Is there no grimoire here that is meant for this boy?_

Shinji was about to walk away when a man ran into the room.

"Something's coming this way!" He shouted to everyone. "There's something heading this way!"

Unfortunately, being informed of…some thing…didn't exactly clarify to anyone on what was coming towards the tower.

Rika opened her grimoire and flipped through the pages to the desired spell.

"Communication Magic: Revelation's Eye," she uttered, and the grimoire shot out a ball of light that expanded in the air above the people's head to reveal a television-like picture of the village outside, and the thing coming towards the tower.

It resembled a small meteor, probably the size of a car, but was burning purple…and curving in the air, as though it were trying to stay on course towards the tower, its targeted destination.

"What is that thing?!" A boy asked.

"It'll be here in less than a minute!" A girl screamed.

"Get out of the tower!" Another girl yelled to everyone.

But it was already too late to get away. The meteor struck the tower…and was flying in a spiral within the room above them.

"What the…" Yui went, confused.

"It should've hit with more force if it was flying towards here," Suki realized, "but it took out the window. It made curves in its trajectory. This thing's here for a reason."

The meteor then flew to the middle of the room and ceased its flaring to reveal its true form: A book with a blue, brown, green and purple hardback cover with a winged, horned humanoid.

"A grimoire?" Drouot spoke, watching as the book lowered down…in front of Shinji. "Of course. The grimoire meant for him wasn't any of the ones in here."

Shinji raised his hands and took the book out of the air, feeling a surge of power flow through him. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before in his life. A dark flame materialized from the front cover and assumed the form of some sort of dark, reptilian/gorilla hybrid (A/N: Think Orga from _Godzilla 2000_ , only more streamlined, not as hunchbacked, armor-plated, minus the shoulder cannon, and with five-fingered claws instead of three) before it disappeared from sight. If he had to describe the feeling, it would be like each time he was told the stories of his family's past in the Clover Kingdom, or how each time he saw them during their visits left him feeling a sense of elation or elevation; it was just a feeling of happiness and hope.

But Rika… She now had a feeling of concern for her only grandchild because of this grimoire due to the fact that it chose him…and it wouldn't have done so unless there was a reason he had whatever requirements necessary to own it, to wield it, to serve it, to be its master and slave. Whatever it was that made so that it became necessary for him to have it, she was certain that Shinji would eventually have to get better at magic now that his flow had ceased being so stagnant after many months of exercising and dieting to recondition his body into an adequate specimen of potential. And he worked his skin off for this day for anyone, including herself, to just snatch this from him, and she wasn't going to, even if she felt she needed to save him.

 _The Destiny Breaker,_ she thought, accepting this to the best of her tolerance, _it chose him, meaning there is a false fate that he has to break free from before it becomes his downfall._

-x-

"What was that thing?" Misato uttered, feeling like she had actually seen the creature Shinji and everyone else inside that tower had seen.

"Some sort of animal," went Rei, feeling the same way.

"There's no animal in history that looked like that thing," Ritsuko declared, confused.

It appeared that each of them had experienced what happened to Shinji in a strange way. They couldn't explain how, but it felt like they had been where the boy was…if only for a brief moment. There was a feeling of danger, of brutality, beauty, rage, power and freedom.

"I think that book chose him," Asuka confessed her belief.

"Why would it choose him?" Gendo questioned; there was no way he could believe that a book, even a magical one, would choose someone like his son.

Fuyutsuki turned the page in the album to the next one, hoping that it would explain the reason.

"The Eva," he uttered, looking at the picture depicting. "It's disappearing into his book."

-x-

The walk back to their house was a quiet one…until Yui opened her grimoire to look at the pages…and raised her voice over it.

"There's only one spell in my grimoire," she explained, and Suki opened hers to examine its contents.

"Mine's empty," she showed their mother and brother.

"For Yui, it just means that she's starting to accept in her heart that magic exists and it's becoming a part of her life," explained Tenshi to them, "and as for you, Suki, the blank pages mean you have yet to begin your rite of passage into magic yourself. Hey, Shinji, what does your grimoire have inside it?"

Shinji, however, was silent, looking down at the cover of his grimoire, noticing how the humanoid figure seemed to have a resemblance to the Evangelion.

"Shinji?" Rika uttered his name.

"Huh?" He responded, looking away from his grimoire. "I'm sorry, yes?"

"Your grimoire. Tenshi asked you what was in it. Have you looked inside it?"

"Uh, no, not yet."

When they made it back home, Shinji decided to open his grimoire. It glowed brightly and shot out a stream of red light at the Eva!

"Aaah!" He screamed, not expecting that to happen at all, dropping the grimoire.

The light enveloped the Eva, removing the wrappings and revealing the purple behemoth to the world…before turning it into light and shrinking it down to the size of an average human, which was then moved above the open book. The Eva was then sucked into the exposed pages, disappearing from sight as the light faded. In its place were a detailed picture of Unit-01 holding its Prog. Knife defensively and a series of writing around it on the two pages it occupied.

"Oh, my," said Tenshi, stunned by what he saw.

"What was that about?!" Suki demanded, looking at her mother. "Can grimoires do that?! Can they just…suck things into them?"

"Some can…sometimes," Rika explained, helping her up to her feet. "Is everyone okay?"

"I'm fine," Shinji declared, picking up his grimoire and examining the pages that the Eva was on. "What the heck is this supposed to mean? _'Demon Beast Creation Magic: Evangelion Devil'_?"

"Creation Magic combined with Demon Beast Magic," Tenshi realized and explained. "Your grimoire transformed the Eva into a spell you can use at your discretion, like a juggernaut or golem."

"But how is that possible?" Yui questioned. "Nobody could get the Eva to move, no matter what they did, no matter how powerful they were."

"Maybe the reason why was because they weren't meant to deal with it," Rika suggested, "meaning that, despite everything anyone tried, we had to wait for Shinji to obtain his grimoire…and for his grimoire to do what we couldn't and weren't supposed to do. In any case, the Eva's previous status as unmovable has been resolved. It's now inside his grimoire; in essence, it's been moved and removed. We no longer need to be concerned about it."

But Yui, as much as she wanted to praise Shinji for unintentionally dealing with the situation regarding the Eva, she knew that it being inside his grimoire, and in a state where only he could use it of his own volition, made any goal she might've had of trying to get back inside it difficult. Maybe even impossible. Now, she would either have to find another means to get back to the original scenario she had been invested in back when her son was little…or give up and adjust to her restored life, regardless of her intentions or the intentions of others regarding the Eva, the Angels and the Human Instrumentality Project."

"Congratulations, Shinji," Suki praised her nephew. "What next for you?"

"The Magic Knights Entrance Exam," he answered; he was going for the path to becoming a Magic Knight on his goal to being a good mage. "Yourself?"

"Assuming I ever get a spell or two in my grimoire, the same as you. A Magic Knight."

"You two are lucky you have six months to improve your grimoires before that exam begins," Tenshi reminded them. "What about you, Yui? Does the idea of being a Magic Knight interest you?"

Yui, unfortunately, nodded in the negative; just because she had magical potential, it didn't mean she had to go down the path her son and elder sister intended on going down.

"The spell that's in my grimoire isn't exactly…something I could probably share with others," she explained, albeit cryptically.

"What's the name of the spell?" Rika asked her daughter.

"It says, _'Steel Spatial Magic: Steel Sanctuary'_."

"Steel Sanctuary? Sounds like a spell that's personal rather than beneficial," said Tenshi, sharing his opinion of the spell.

"We'll have to see this spell one day," Suki suggested.

-x-

Of course, Yui wasn't sure if she was supposed to even demonstrate this sole spell that was present in her grimoire. Her brief education into the world of magic here in the Clover Kingdom only gave her the basics of each type of magic that the people could perform. To her understanding, apart from the four primary elements of magic, there was magic that related solely to the generation and manipulation of light and darkness, trees, vines, sand, swords, mud, even magic focused on glass and space. It was only because of her family's affinity towards all forms of magic that she possessed such an unusual spell to begin with; there wasn't a single soul outside the House of Ikari that could use Compound or Union Magic without major assistance from other powerful mages.

Reading the contents of the spell in her room, she discovered that the spell revolved around the creation of a pocket dimension for its user to escape to that embodied their relation to metal, made to look like wherever they felt most secured in. But Yui wasn't sure if the spell could actually do what she was thinking it could do. If it could, then it would've been one of the good things to happen for her since she was released from the Eva and the cybernetic behemoth kept under wraps until it ended up getting put in her son's grimoire.

 _I might as well see what it can do,_ she thought, her book suddenly aglow with silver light. "Steel Spatial Magic: Steel Sanctuary."

Her room shifted around her as space became distorted. The walls and floor changed from painted wood and carpet to metal, the lighting became more fluorescent and the smell of sterilization solutions replaced the smell of incense candles. In less than a minute, Yui was no longer in her room, but in a small space that resembled a science lab, only sparse and lacking the resources for anyone to do anything science-related.

"A steel sanctuary, indeed," she sighed, feeling at ease being here. "A sanctuary…for scientists."

-x-

"…Yui opens her book…and it gives her a private place?" Fuyutsuki questions, seeing the picture of a small, metal room appearing out of the woman's grimoire.

"It looks like she's see-sawing between science and magic," suggested Ritsuko.

"While she's doing that, Shinji seems to be adjusting to the idea of magic," said Asuka, which Misato agreed with due to how it seemed that in each photo depicting Shinji's status, the boy was adjusting favorably, while his mother seemed to be doing so…but at a less-than-favorable rate than he was.

Gendo was wondering if whatever magic that existed wherever his wife and her relatives resided in (he was having a hard time believing that anyplace actually went by the designation Clover Kingdom), it included the means to travel between dimensions and return to this one.

"He's starting to look like he works out too much just to build up his muscles and get good," Asuka informed the others, looking at a picture of Shinji with his uncle. "He doesn't look scrawny or wimpy at all, anymore."

The picture depicted Shinji with Tenshi lifting up large rocks, though the ones his uncle was lifting up were significantly larger. While the boy had the appearance of a young man that was getting into shape, his rejuvenated uncle was clearly the better specimen that, even though he himself also didn't look like one of those wrestlers or upper body-building individuals that emphasized brawn over brains.

"Maybe it's part of some magic training regime," Fuyutsuki suggested. "Maybe for some people, magic relies on the fitness of the body. Less energy the body has, probably less magic that can be used."

"That's assuming the world they're in has any requirements that magic has," Ritsuko stated.

-x-

In his dreams, Shinji was having an odd time. It felt like he was in a city, but the environment was exactly like the Clover Kingdom's capital. Yet he saw people from his past in Tokyo-3. He saw Toji, Kensuke, Asuka, Misato, Ritsuko, Rei and even Pen-Pen!

"True or false, Shinji," he heard a voice say to him from behind himself, "you value these bonds over the lack of a bond between yourself and your father, don't you?"

He turned around and saw the creature that had manifested temporarily from his grimoire earlier that day, standing in front of him. The way it looked at him suggested a degree of intelligence that was similar to human intelligence.

"Yes," he answered it. "Yes, I do."

The creature nodded in acceptance and then conjured the boy's grimoire in its left claw.

"True or false," it spoke again, "you felt relieved for the first time in a long time after the Evangelion was absorbed into your grimoire, thinking you wouldn't have to get back inside it again, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did."

The grimoire opened on its own and from one of the pages manifested a sword hilt sticking out of it.

"True or false: Do you believe in fate? Or destiny? Or any concepts relating to either?"

"No, I don't."

"And why is that?"

"If I believed in them, then that would mean that I don't have control over my life, that I'll never be in control of it, that everything I do is something that is supposed to happen, no matter what."

"And if you could change your fate? If you could…defy it, defy the fate of those around you, even undo what others believe is impossible to overcome?"

"If I could do that, then I'd know I was in control, that my life was mine to decide with how it could be lived and everything."

The sword hilt slowly rose out of the book, revealing itself to be related to those of Japanese culture, particularly the katana, but the back of the blade seemed different from a traditional version.

"True or false," the creature resumed, "how far are you willing to go to break free from the bindings of the false destiny you've only started to deviate from by removing the Eva? Are you willing to go to the limits of your mortality to escape your fate and change the fate of those around you, past and present?"

Shinji thought about it for a moment…and answered if he really had a choice in the matter.

The creature was caught off guard by his question; it didn't expect him to question his choice.

"Your life has been divided into two paths on your road to the future," it explained, and the environment of their shared background shifted to resemble Tokyo-3 at night, doused in rain. "But you understand the path that had the Eva and your father on it. You've been down that way, time and again. You know, deep down, exactly where it ends…and it is not where you want to be, anymore."

Shinji looked down the street behind himself, seeing it led only into the unknown darkness…but known to him from his personal experiences regarding NERV. It led nowhere for him…but a life of violence, pain, loss and regret. Regret was something he had to live with ever his mother had faked her death and his father left him in the care of a complete stranger, unwilling to let the only other family he had take him in…and he had grown weary of further regret if he returned to that path.

"Who are you?" He asked the creature.

"One designation you might have for me is the minion of House Ikari," it answered him, "or its servant, or perhaps its golem. I am the guardian of whoever wields the False Destiny Breaker, the grimoire of previous members of House Ikari that chose you like it did them. In essence, I serve and protect you from the bindings of the cruel destiny you must break from if you hope to reach your goals. You and I both know what you're after in this life, and I'm willing to go as far as you to make it happen."

Shinji turned back to face the creature, and saw the sword had fully emerged from the grimoire, revealing its back was blue as opposed to the traditional black, with Asian characters etched into the blade, and was being held by the creature.

-x-

Gendo couldn't fathom the picture depicting his son engaged in a conversation with a strange creature holding a sword and book in front of him with his left hand reaching out to all three. All he could guess was that the boy had gotten into something big and was in for a world of hurt if he wanted to get out.

"That creature is his protector," went Rei, surprising everyone.

"How do you know this?" Asuka demanded.

"If it wanted to hurt him, it would've done so," she explained, although it still didn't add up. "And what it says under the photo."

They all looked under the photo and saw a message that read, _"False Destiny Breaker"_.

"False Destiny Breaker?" Misato questioned, confused.

"Sounds like something to expose truth to lies," Kaji expressed. "Or revealing an overzealous person's ego is deluding themselves to reality."

But to Gendo, it seemed more like an attack yet to come and a threat to those in control of the world, including himself. He turned to the next page and revealed a new picture depicting some sort of shift between his wife, their son and his aunt.

The picture was of a parallel line separating Shinji and Suki from Yui; the former two on the left side while the latter woman was on the right, as if depicting them on different sides of a confrontation between goals.

-x-

It was a shift in her choice from declining to considering. First, Yui was disinterested in the possibility of joining the Magic Knights if she could even get accepted into a squad…and now, after only less than six hours ago, a night of rest and soul-searching…she was considering applying for admittance into the same choice her sister and son were. But what she didn't share with her family was her reason for choosing to do so. She only told them that after doing her share of researching the Magic Knights, she felt she could improve her grimoire by joining a squad.

Suki wanted to believe that this was a sign of sibling rivalry between herself and Yui, even though there was no true competition between them, but Shinji, after his own night of soul-searching, couldn't wrap his finger around the possibility that his mother had a less-than-favorable agenda for wanting to join the ranks of the Magic Knights.

"It's still six months from now," Suki told her sister at the table as they all had breakfast. "That means six months to improve on your skills and build up your spells. Why the sudden interest, though?"

"To see how far I can get with magic," she claimed.

"Good luck with that," said Shinji to her; while he meant what he said with encouragement, he had become suspicious of his mother's motives. _I want to believe that she won't do anything she isn't supposed to…but I can't control her actions, not even to prevent the unimaginable from happening._

To be continued…

A/N: Uh-oh! Anyone get the feeling that Yui is up to something that opposes what Shinji will be out to do? She sees what the only spell in her grimoire can do, and she decides to try for the Magic Knights like her son and sister. One thing is for certain now, and it's that something is amiss within House Ikari.


	8. Different Goals, Different Reasons

Creation began on 06-29-18

Creation ended on 07-12-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Different Goals, Different Reasons

Shinji confided in his grandmother, aunt and uncle on what he saw last night in a dream he had, explaining to them of the few minutes he had lost before they settled in Hage. He was confiding in them a bit more than he felt he ever could with his own mother, who expressed her interest in joining the Magic Knights, same as him and Suki. The creature holding his grimoire, the sword, the dread of the end of the world, he told them everything.

"I've never heard of a grimoire causing chosen individuals to lose gaps in memory before," Tenshi expressed. "You definitely got into something big, Shinji."

"He didn't get into something big, Tenshi," Rika told her son. "He was in something big before he even took his first breath of life. His grimoire, the False Destiny Breaker, chose him in order to break him free from that something, whatever it is."

"You make it seem like grimoires have a conscience, Mother," Suki expressed to her, "like they have feelings or can actually think for themselves."

"Grimoires serve to record our individual histories and the spells we obtain and use over the course of our lives. They're like the eyes and ears that know what we do, when we do so, even how we do so. They develop as we do."

"And depending upon the owner's personality and intentions, grimoires will mirror them to a lesser extent," Tenshi added.

"So, there's good and bad grimoires?" Shinji asked.

"No," Rika and Tenshi responded.

"Grimoires are neutral," Rika explained separately, "Grimoires don't make anyone good or bad. Good or bad depends upon the actions of the people that use them."

-x-

Asta may have had more time to read his grimoire after having it cleaned and his status as a wielder of magic clarified to the kingdom, but even he couldn't understand the spells that were present in the pages. So far, they all seemed to relate to his use of the sword, but he needed more experience if he was ever going to use them. The only other benefit that might have supported him was that Anti Magic could be used in conjunction with other forms of magic if the situation required so. It's been almost a year since the attack on the capital by Rades and he hadn't been able to improve his ranking from a Fifth Class Junior Magic Knight since.

"What is this spell here?" He wondered, turning to a new page. " _'Anti Sword Magic: Rapid Strike'_? Sounds very powerful."

-x-

Licht, the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, was among those that heard about the stories surrounding the noble House of Ikari and its prophesied return so many months ago. While impressed that the Clover Kingdom had been talking about this family's return like it was a godsend or something, the fact that their return had affected his followers had kept him from rescuing Rades and Catherine from the kingdom. He found it unusual that such a family, even one he had absolutely no prior knowledge of, had been forced to escape an extensive attempt on their lives and ended up in another world where only 60 years had past for them there while over fifteen-hundred years came and went here, and that such a family was versed in multiple forms of magic. It should've been impossible, a mere fantasy, but two of these known Ikaris were able to do magic that wasn't possible.

 _Such an unusual family,_ he thought, looking at individual photos of these men and women. _Three of them are living relics from the past while two of them lived lives almost no different from commoners up until they were brought here. If they weren't so affiliated with the Clover Kingdom, I'd request that they join us and support our cause._

He picked up the picture of Shinji, the youngest of the family, and wondered whether or not to view him as a potential threat to his group's goals of destroying the Clover Kingdom and building a new nation from its ashes. There was just something about him that made Licht…curious. In a way, the child was possibly as much of an unknown as the Black Bull boy that possesses no magic…or no understandable magic until recently due to the revelation provided by the Ikaris.

-x-

Nine Magic Knight squads, nine captains under the leadership of the Wizard King, and an undetermined number of factors that could spell either success or failure when it comes to getting admittance into any of them. And because several dozens of people gather from across the kingdom to try their best to join a squad each year, the competition was high, which meant Shinji, Suki and Yui had to train as hard as possible to get their shot.

"When it all comes down to it, the one thing they'll expect above all else from any of you is just magic," Tenshi informed his sisters and nephews one day as they were in the woods near the remains of the demon. "They'll take an especial interest towards those of nobility, believing they'll have the highest degree of magical power, but they'll also have to consider commoners because they're exceptionally strong, as well. Two additional factors they want to see from each of the examinees is the amount of magic they possess…and the degree of control they can demonstrate on whatever spells they exhibit to impress the captains. The more impressed they are, the better your chances are of getting into a squad…or having more than one squad to choose from."

Shinji raised his right hand to ask a question.

"Yes, Shinji?" Tenshi accepted.

"How are we going to train during the preparation time?" He asked his uncle.

"I believe in positive reinforcement and tough love, nephew," he explained his approach towards his relatives. "Make no mistake, I will run each of you ragged until you're recalling spells in your sleep, but I won't force you to do something you don't think you can do. As the people of the past would say that if you can't handle the pressure, quit, I say that if you can't handle the pressure, either find a way to alleviate it…or wait around for it to become tolerable to you, because one way or another, the obstacle in your way isn't going anywhere until you deal with it at your own pace."

Suki then raised her right hand to ask a question.

"Yes, Suki?" Tenshi accepted.

"Are we allowed potty breaks during your training regimen?" She asked him.

"Yeah, sure. Any other questions before we begin?"

Yui, having looked through her grimoire at the blank pages, looked up at her brother and raised her left hand to ask the only question.

"Yui?" He accepted.

"How much faith do you have in the three of us getting accepted into the Magic Knights?" She asked.

"To be honest, I don't expect any of you to get accepted so easily," Tenshi expressed his belief. "If you got in easy, you wouldn't be truly challenged. Something simply given to you based upon some status you have outside of your familiar ties has no actual meaning unless it's earned from bitter work that promises results. It don't matter who you are or what your status is or was, who believed in you or who didn't. Do you believe you'll get in? Do you think you'll have what it takes to be a Magic Knight and protect and serve the kingdom and its people? You tell me."

If that was what it took to get accepted, then Yui would have to up her game just to get accepted. While she still chose science over magic, she would view the magic the same way she viewed the science, with a mathematical sense of precision.

Suki would stick to her brother's regimen to become just as good as her nephew, since both were exploring the realm of magic at about the same level.

Shinji, on the other hand, would do whatever he could, within his limits, to get as good as he could get in order to achieve his goal. And he would also need to believe in three of the four virtues that the Clover Kingdom stressed if he was to do right by his goal.

"When do we begin?" He asked Tenshi.

"We just got started," he answered.

-x-

There were three pictures on the next page in the photo album that depicted not only the Ikari members that were in training to get to some event that beyond them, but the passage of time that seemed to indicate that wherever they were, time was passing by faster than what the people in Gendo's office could see.

"It looks like the uncle, Tenshi, is working his sisters and nephew ragged," said Kaji, pointing to the photo that showed Tenshi "making" his relatives carry large blocks from three separate walls that were around the house they lived in.

"But it looks like it's part of something the three are doing to get stronger," Asuka pointed out to a second photo, indicating that the three were taking a break and consuming vegetables and energy drinks during the regimen while looking at their books. "Why the focus on their books, though?"

Rei looked at the third photo and saw it depicting Shinji unleashing some sort of energy from his hands…and at the wall he was supposed to be tearing down.

Gendo couldn't believe his son was doing some workout to improve. If he had known what his son could do when properly motivated, he would've made him work harder on his synchronization tests with the Eva.

" _You don't have any interest in your son's interests, Gendo,"_ he remembered Rika telling him one time when Shinji was eight during a a weekly visitation period. _"Do you even know what motivates Shinji to do something? What really motivates him? He just gave Suki and Tenshi a pair of paintings that he wanted to finish for them before he has to leave. Why am I even asking you? Of course, you don't know what motivates Shinji. His birthday's coming up, and he doesn't expect you to be there, even if he had a wish for you to be there."_

 _I don't have time to concern myself with his motivations or interests,_ he thought; it seemed that no matter what Shinji did, Gendo wouldn't concern himself with anything his son was up to unless it benefited his own goals.

-x-

"…How did I do that?" Shinji questioned, looking down at his hands as the red glow they had slowly faded after firing a blast of energy that made a large hole in the wall conjured by Rika to represent his goal to get past it and see what lie beyond it.

"Shinji," went Rika, surprised by what he did, "that was a magic bullet. And a very large one at that. That's quite a feat after just a month of training."

"I remember my first magic bullet during my training days," said Tenshi, "and it was back when I was ten…and it was minute compared to your first one. Nice work."

Suki looked at the hole that was in Shinji's wall and had to admit that her nephew was progressing a lot better than she and her sister. He just developed a talent and a taste for magic not too long ago and was doing much better than what she had expected of herself right now because she wanted to be able to do just as good as Rika, Kana, Mana and the other women of their family were, past and present. She then opened up her grimoire…and looked at the empty pages; despite now being able to carry large weight on her shoulders and drag it across three miles to improve her cardio and speed (she might've also lost five pounds of fat and gained two pounds of lean muscle), she had yet to perform the slightest bit of magic. It was beginning to depress her.

Rika had checked with her the same way with Shinji and Asta, and confirmed that Suki possessed magic, only it was being stubborn with her. She assured her daughter that the same thing happened with herself and her great-grandmother, but Suki got the feeling that her own magical progress was stunted due to the fact that she'd been in a world where mana was scarce and she never performed a spell a day in her life, like some sort of black sheep.

" _Magic is sometimes stubborn, Suki,"_ her mother told her three days ago. _"It'll manifest when it manifests. We just have to be patient."_

" _And what happens if you don't want to be patient?"_ She had asked her. _"What if you're tired of waiting and want to do magic as fast as possible?"_

" _In your great-grandmother's case? Put yourself in harm's way. But I'd rather you didn't do that, Suki. Trying to force it can lead to unexpected consequences. Just be patient. Patience is a virtue that brings about what is expected to those that wait for great things to happen."_

Yui was left in awe at Shinji's first bullet. If it was able to be that big, that meant he used too much mana, which also meant that his reserves were likely immense, as well. She looked away from his wall to her own, and the blocks that comprised it were the size of small boxes or storage bins…and as heavy as large tires…and she barely managed to move five of them on her own. But she was older and had more experience than he did, so she would improve at a pace much greater than he expected to. She had to if she was going to get more than one squad option to choose from.

-x-

When they turned to the next page in the album, they found part of why the three were locked in such rigorous training.

"They're trying to get into one of these nine groups?" Ritsuko suspected.

"But why would they have to get into one of them?" Kaji questioned. "Unless it's some sort of requirement for them."

"Maybe it's part of an attempt to get back to this world," suggested Misato, looking at the whole section of the album that depicted nine symbols with Shinji, his mother and aunt under them. "Maybe each group has something to obtain."

"But which group do they intend to join?" Fuyutsuki spoke, suggesting that for each of the three there was a single choice that was long term.

"Nine groups," said Asuka, "and one choice, if any. Who knows which one they'll choose? They might even choose different ones, depending on whether or not they can separate and join individual groups."

"That is possible," went Rei, looking down at the image of Shinji, wondering which of these nine groups he had the most interest in choosing if possible.

Above the nine symbols was a message of varying significance: _"Nine in total. Which one to choose? Follow your desire."_

-x-

"Urgh!" Yui groaned as she pulled another block from off her section of wall that landed onto a wooden platform, working up a sweat.

And then she fell to her bottom.

"Yui," she heard her mother, and looked behind herself to where she stood, looking down at her.

"I'm not quitting," she told her. "Just resting."

"I'm not your brother, so take a step back and relax."

Yui got up and looked at her hands. They were almost worked to the raw from all the training. While she had chosen to work on her wall, Tenshi took Shinji and Suki on a jog across the village.

So far, two months had gone by and each member had either lost some substantial weight while building up their muscular mass and becoming leaner.

"I understand that there's a balance between strength of magic and strength of body, but this seems to makes no sense to me at all (she points to the blocks and wall)…and gets harder everyday," Yui explained to her mother.

"There's no science or logic involved in this, Yui," Rika told her daughter, "and it only gets as hard and difficult…as you yourself believe it to be."

Yui then pick up her grimoire and informed her that ever since the training regimen began, only two additional spells just found their way onto the pages and then pointed out that, logically, gravity and solid mass had something else to say.

"How can there be no logic involved?" She questioned her mother, pointing to the block she had yet to move from the wall.

"Perception, belief, order, focus and acceptance, Yui," Rika explained. "You believe these blocks to be heavy…and therefore, they are. But to those of us that have magic in their heritage…or are able to harness it at some later point in their life…"

Rika then picked up one of the ropes…and pulled the block towards them, surprising Yui by how easy she made it look…and because her mother was more petite than she was. It was as though she had enhanced strength or something.

"Things like weight is meaningless."

"How are you and Tenshi able to do these things?"

"By accepting the unacceptable and making the impossible possible," she revealed, and handed the rope over to her. "Pull the block again…and I shall assist you."

Yui tied the rope around her shoulders while Rika got behind the block.

"Ready?" She asked her daughter.

"Ready," she responded, and pulled as best as she could while Rika pushed…or so she thought when the block was moved.

As she was within reach of the other blocks that had been piled over into a corner, Rika walked beside her on her right side with a cup of lemonade.

"Thirsty?" She asked her.

"Huh?!" Yui gasped, seeing her there, and looked back at the block; did her mother truly do anything…or did she pull it all by herself? "How…"

"You believed it was without weight because I pulled it," she explained, "therefore, it became weightless, Yui. The only scientific logic that exists with magic is that matter and energy exist all around us. Magic, witchcraft, even wizardry, are all just means of harnessing and controlling them. For example, our grimoires serve to hold our strongest methods of magic, while without them we'll mostly capable of just basic forms, such as a small blade of wind. But is such a tool truly forged from air on its own, like with the mages with the affinity for Wind Magic through Creation Magic, or do we influence its creation with inspiration from the use of knives and other such tools that led to the foundation of Sword Magic, even Sword Magic itself?"

Rika opened her grimoire and conjured a small dagger from air.

"But is it real to you?" She questioned, tossing it over Yui, who caught.

It dematerialized as she held it.

"It didn't seem real," she told her, and her mother conjured another dagger from air…and used it to impale the block. "That one does."

Then, Rika grabbed it and threw it at Yui!

"OH!" She panicked and caught it before the blade could pierce her in the chest.

It felt like cool metal molded into a weapon meant to shear through flesh.

"That time, you believed it was real," Rika told her, taking the dagger back. "Learn to control the mana around you and within you, and your limitations become irrelevant."

Having her dropped her own grimoire during the false assault by her mother, Yui picked it back up…but when she looked back at the wall she was tearing down, she received quite a shock…for it was no longer there, leaving only the ones Shinji and Suki were tearing down.

"What happened to my wall?" She asked her mother, who closed her grimoire and was getting ready to return to the house.

"The spell Tenshi used to create it was dependent upon your perception," she explained to her. "You perceived it when he made it for you, believing it was there; therefore, it was there. But now, you're learning to accept things that are unacceptable and impossible, so the wall no longer stands to impede your advancement. Are you ready to see what lies beyond your wall?"

Her grimoire glowed pink and she opened it to see a new spell had been inscribed onto a page. It read, _"Union Creation Magic: Blood-empowered Armored Fists"_. This had to mean it was a mixture of Steel and Blood Magic, two forces that weren't supposed to be compatible, but were for her.

"I can't stop now," she uttered.

-x-

"Look out below!" Suki screamed, jumping into the water for the eighth time, sending waves of it across the walls of the small pond she, Tenshi and Shinji found recently.

Tenshi never expected to see such a place near Hage, even after being gone for so long with his mother and sister. It was by mere chance that they found this place.

Shinji, despite having taken lessons on how to swim from Suki, still stayed near the shallow parts where his feet touched the ground as he sat on a rock; just because he finally achieved mastery over a skill he lacked prior to coming to the kingdom didn't necessarily mean he had to embrace it all the time. He would if he had to upon reaching his goal to becoming a Magic Knight.

"Shinji, I love you and everything, but you really need to be more open in this life," Suki told her nephew as she swam over to the shallow base.

"I would if you were to cover up," he told her, pointing out her indecent swimwear.

"What are you talking about?" She questioned, sitting down beside him on the left. "I'm barely showing. I'm almost flat-chested; I lost a lotta years after getting rejuvenated."

"I…I just don't want anyone making passes at you that hit the ear wrong," he explained; she might've been around his age now, but the fact that she wasn't as filled out or as endowed due to losing most of her adult years made Shinji, in a strange way, very protective of his aunt. _It wouldn't matter if her chronological age made her eligible for senior citizen discounts or whatever. If anyone so much as looks at her the wrong way or takes advantage of her just because she hasn't lived in the kingdom as long as her mother and brother have, it makes us look bad, like we're not keeping out of trouble._

Laying on her back, Suki wondered why her nephew seemed very defensive of her. It wasn't like she was looking for anyone just yet, but it mirrored the actions her brother took when they were in Japan. Any time a boy around her age or older took an interest in her, she either had to let them down easy or Tenshi would have to put on his big brother act and threaten to hurt them if they didn't back off. Truth be told, ever since she spent most of her life in Japan, she wasn't into any of the people romantically, even to do what people of the younger generations referred to as having a fling or friends with benefits or whatever it was called these days. She just didn't connect with people that way.

"The second someone tries to make a pass at me, I'd just disregard them," she told him. "Plus, I think there are laws against trying to get with somebody that is, technically, over fifteen-hundred years old in one place, fifty-five going on fifty-six in another, and was recently rejuvenated back to the age of fourteen years old. Or there should be."

"It's only my opinion, but I doubt you being labeled a chronological senior citizen is going to keep the bad ones away," Shinji expressed. "They usually don't let any laws or repercussions keep them from crossing the line with someone they have no permission to get involved with…even if only briefly."

"I know what you mean, Shinji," said Tenshi, understanding where he was getting at with Suki. "Certain men and women…aren't likely to keep away from what they have no right to go after unless permitted. The whole forbidden fruit thing that draws in only those that refuse to stick to the road less traveled by others."

"You're talking about that guy that tried to hit on me when I was eighteen?" Suki questioned him.

"Seven guys, sis. Seven…and I had to beat off every last one of them because they tried to get alone with you one night. You didn't have your magic back then, but now you're restored of your youth; therefore, you're more vulnerable until you're capable of defending yourself, both with magic and without magic."

Suki then looked down at her body. Her swimwear consisted of just her halter and shorts; she wasn't filled out enough to wear bras, anymore, and she wouldn't dare flash Shinji like how this Soryu girl that he met on some carrier when he was drafted into some war by his parents had, even though it was likely unintentional due to the weather and the girl's poor clothing choice during their first encounter. She pressed her hands against her chest to feel her bosom, thinking she could've been mistaken for a boy if her hair were shorter, similar to Shinji's. Her wardrobe wasn't as big as it used to be back then, but she could've done something about it, since she dressed with simplicity and preferred to be bland unlike other girls or women, who sometimes stood out by choice to attract the masses.

"Do I even look like I'm attractive to people right now?" She asked them.

"Yes/Definitely," Shinji and Tenshi answered her.

"And I don't suppose that simply dressing conservatively or plainly will change that?"

"Not likely/No chance in this lifetime."

Suki sighed; no doubt she was blessed and cursed with a beauty that was undesired that made her a potential magnet for unwanted attention from certain people.

-x-

So far, as only two months remained until the annual Magic Knights Entrance Exam arrived, Yui had been the first to progress in her training and had the most spells in her grimoire. Her son, Shinji, had progressed secondly, though due to being able to produce and control his magic bullets more effectively, he was almost his mother's equal in terms of their magical aptitude (however, her siblings thought differently, as he should've been considered her superior instead of her equal). This left Suki in last place due to her magic continuing to demonstrate its stubbornness at manifesting itself for her to progress, leaving her with just her improved physicality and substantial strength increase.

"Maybe I don't have any magic," Suki told her mother one night as they were in the kitchen, just having a drink. "What if I'm just normal from having lived most of my life in a world where there is no such thing as magic and the mana is minute?"

"If that were the case, my magic-detecting spell I used on Shinji, Asta and Yui wouldn't have worked on you," Rika told her daughter. "If it found magic in you, then it means you're capable of magic. The same goes for you getting chosen by a grimoire. If you didn't have any magic, it wouldn't have chosen you at all."

"But I keep looking at my grimoire, and its pages are still blank. I'm supposed to be the big sister, and I'm feeling like a fifth wheel. Yui didn't even believe in magic until after she witnessed it…and she's doing better than I am."

Rika could see that this phase her daughter was going through was a heavy one on her. Despite the effort she was putting in, despite her commitment to her brother's training regimen, as well as her drive to become a Magic Knight, the girl was at a virtual standstill. The girl wanted so badly to do her own magic, to serve the kingdom, to live up to her expectations, and, most importantly, to fit into a world where she actually felt she belonged. While she knew it was against her better judgement, she knew more that it was important to her daughter to get over this obstacle.

"If it continues to persist, Suki," she told her, hoping she wouldn't regret her decision, "we'll go the route best not taken and force your magic to manifest by placing you in danger."

"Really?" Suki asked her.

"Yes. While I'm uncomfortable with such a move because I don't want to risk causing lethal harm that you might not recover from, as there is no magic spell that revives the dead without some sort of requirement that goes against the laws of both society and nature, I'm willing to help you become a witch like the other women in our family."

"Thank you, Mother."

BOOM! They heard an explosion upstairs, and felt the vibrations in the flooring.

"Sorry about that!" They heard Tenshi yell.

"Heh-heh," Rika chuckled.

"Is Spatial Magic that hard to master?" Suki asked.

"Yes, due to its high consumption of mana and requiring of needing a Point A and Point B. Mages that have mastery of it are able to open spatial rifts anywhere they want to go, create multiple rifts or a big one, and can keep them open for as long as they desire. It's not easy, but those that persevere will reach the promised outcome of their craft."

-x-

In his room, Shinji scrolled through his grimoire, looking at several different spells that were combinations of several forms of magic that seemed impossible for most other people, but were formed in ways that seemed almost beyond magic itself, with other spells based on forms not demonstrated by any of the mages he'd seen. There were blends of Tree Magic with Water Magic, Fire Magic with Steel Magic, even Sword Magic that used spells based off the four primary elements. There was also a spell that had just caught his attention that he was looking at right now. It was an Anti Magic spell called, _"Guardian of the Void"_ , depicting a picture of the very creature he had seen upon receiving his grimoire and in his dreams where he recalled his missing gap in memory.

 _Guardian of the Void, huh?_ He thought, curious as to how it related to Anti Magic. _A creature…born of Anti Magic…but not related with Creation Magic? Grandmother says that Creation Magic revolves around the creation of various entities from the mages' own mana, but anything meant to reflect a living creature isn't truly sentient, making them pale imitations meant to serve their masters until they're no longer needed. Could this be independent of such magic?_

He wasn't sure, except in his dream, the creature did seem to exhibit signs of intelligence and was probably capable of making its own decisions on a whim. Yawning, he decided to turn in for the night and put his grimoire away under his pillow before turning off his bedside lantern.

-x-

Still taking advantage of her Steel Sanctuary, Yui was starting to feel more at home in her solitary space that existed in a separate dimension. Small at first, but it seemed to expand as her magic did, refining itself to accommodate more things a scientist used to create over the years. It hadn't been long until her grimoire revealed to her two additional spells that served to reflect her status as a scientist known as Blood Creation Magic: Raw Material and Steel Creation Magic: Raw Material, and she knew just what to do with these spells.

"Less than two months left until the exam," she told herself, looking at the progress of the large humanoid in front of her. "To empress the captains, I'll use you to demonstrate what science is capable of achieving over magic…and later use magic to achieve what science was expected to."

-x-

 _What are you up to, Yui?_ Gendo wondered, looking at the picture depicting his wife standing in front of an obscured figure that was about the size of a human within the refined space she seemed to dwell within.

 _Yui,_ thought Fuyutsuki, seeing a degree of similarity between the space she resided in with a place he saw all the time, _are you still aiming to do this, even though you're elsewhere in a place where your son is happy with your relatives?_

Rei, possibly due to the obscurity of the humanoid the woman was working on, turned to the next page…and saw four pictures of Suki Ikari in one situation after another, each that seemed meant to place her in danger. One of the pictures showed Shinji with a sword that he was using to try and slash away at her.

 _What is Ikari-Kun doing?_ She became suspicious.

-x-

Neither Shinji or Tenshi were comfortable with this change of method suggested by Rika, but despite the patriarch's method to whip his sisters and nephew into shape so that they wouldn't be reliant upon magic, Suki's magic still wouldn't manifest. As a result, this plan was the last resort to help her get past her magic block. What made Shinji uncomfortable with such a plan was what Tenshi relayed to him as Suki was sent out to just get lost in the woods: Suki had to be placed in real danger so her magic would be triggered, meaning they had to forget for the time being that she was one of their own and just go after her like they meant to actually harm her.

" _It's not like we really need to hurt her, Shinji,"_ he assured him. _"It just needs to be real enough that her magic will pop out. Whichever way you choose to play your role is up to you, just as long as it's convincing to Suki that she's in actual danger."_

Shinji, standing against a tree just outside the woods, sighed as he opened his grimoire to the page he chose to use first. He might've had to put his aunt in danger, but he could at least try to do the least degree of harm.

"Water Sword Magic: Iceberg Katana," he uttered the spell's name, and the water moisture in the air thicken around his hand until it became a gauntlet made of ice wielding a sword. _Creepy. I should be complaining about it cold on my wrist, but it's like it's the same temperature as the rest of my body._

SLASH! He heard a noise from afar.

"Whoa!" He heard his aunt scream.

 _I guess Uncle Tenshi's in this to make it as real as possible,_ he realized, and got out into the open where Suki was currently on the ground, having narrowly avoided a spear of fire. "Aaaaurgh!"

Suki looked up and saw her nephew wielding a sword of ice…and a look of contrition on his face.

"Aaah!" She panicked and quickly got up and ran down the path she was on.

"Earth Trap Magic," she heard her mother say from somewhere within the woods, "Granite Cage!"

The ground around her rumbled, and she jumped away before a series of curved, stone pillars shot out and created a birdcage-like prison.

She knew that as real as this was supposed to be, Suki felt like this was a game of reverse tag, where everyone was out to get her to win.

"Hmm…you were able to avoid my carefully-placed trap, Suki," went Rika's voice again as she sat atop a tree branch with her grimoire open. "It looks like Tenshi taught you to use your Ki to predict attacks. Impressive. You should still watch out for Shinji, though."

Slash! Suki looked at the cage and saw Shinji had cut through the cage with his ice sword.

"Hi, Suki," he greeted, but then charged at her with his sword held high. "Rrrraugh!"

"Oh!" She gasped, got up and ran like crazy to get away from her nephew. "This is crazy!"

"Spatial Fire Magic," she heard Tenshi's voice, seeing a portal open up in front of her that he stepped out of. "Boom Tube!"

From behind him came a series of fire rings with small bombs on them with lit fuses.

"Oh, come on!" She yelled, running down a different path and through a field of trees that saved her from the explosive force of her brother's attack.

"I gotta say, Suki, you and Shinji are making me want to think about joining the Magic Knights."

"Yeah, well, you'd get in easily! You're a skilled and disciplined mage!"

"That has nothing to do with what you're trying to achieve. Spatial Magic continues to be a complex art that takes time to master. The greatest spell it has, when used in conjunction with Time Magic, is the ability to travel anywhere, in any time, without limits. Once that has been mastered, anything is possible. Anywhere is possible."

"Okay, Suki, I'm going to try something painful!" Shinji shouted from a distance, turning to a new spell in his grimoire. "Slash Creation Magic: Progressive Volley!"

A wave of multiple, diamond-like blade shot across the path and hit Suki on her arms and legs, cutting her flesh.

"Aaaahh!" She screamed, falling to her back. "Aaah! Time out! Time out!"

"Whoa, Shinji!" Tenshi had to agree with Suki. "Stop! Everyone stop!"

Shinji and Rika came over and the former couldn't believe that his move, which he thought would be the least painful, had actually caused the most harm.

"Suki, I…" He spoke up, seeing the cuts on her arms and legs. "I…I didn't mean…"

Suki was about to speak when her grimoire opened up glowed bright pink. She looked at the pages and saw spells being written on them.

"Thread Healing Magic," she uttered, surprising them. "Green Threads of Mending."

A green ball of thread appeared from out her grimoire and shot out several strands that wrapped around her cut skin and removed the injuries, leaving only green wool bands.

"Her first spell," Rika expressed at seeing her daughter's magic finally awakened. "Well done, Shinji. Not what was expected, but you got your aunt's magic to emerge when she needed it to."

Suki stood up and looked at the three.

"I'm a witch now, right?" She asked her mother.

"Yes, Suki," Rika answered. "You're a witch. Congratulations."

-x-

"…It looks like his uncle has decided to join them in trying to get into one of these groups," Asuka stated as they looked at the next page in the album, seeing the rejuvenated uncle of Shinji with said boy, Suki and Yui as they walked down a wide, stone street.

"Wait a minute, look at the writing down here at the bottom," went Kaji, pointing to some words that were at the bottom of the right page under the old pictures not depicting the family's present state. "It says that six months have passed since the day they got these books called grimoires. It looks like time passes faster where they are. And what the heck is a grimoire?"

"It's what's referred to as an encyclopedic tome containing magical spells," explained Fuyutsuki. "Basically, a magic book."

"So they were all studying magic?" Misato suggested. "They're in a world where magic truly exists?"

"Incredible," Ritsuko stated, impressed by both the possibility of magic existing in another world and where time passes differently than in the world they resided in.

When they turned to the next page, they found another written message on the pages that read, _"The Magic Knights Entrance Exam has finally come again to those seeking to join the ranks of and to be among the best and brightest."_

 _Ikari-Kun…wants to be a…a Magic Knight?_ Rei wondered.

"Magic Knights," Gendo spoke. _What purpose could they serve? And what does becoming one indicate? What does being one entail?_

-x-

The Castle Town of Kikka, where the Magic Knights Entrance Exam was held annually, was buzzing with excitement as a variety of people came from across the kingdom to compete in the exam.

"I don't think there's been this much excitement since we returned," said Suki as she, Tenshi, Shinji and Yui walked towards the colosseum to register for the exam.

"Depending upon how you look at it, there's excitement anywhere and everywhere," Tenshi stated, noticing that there were people looking at them. "Really embarrassing right now."

"They don't even know us," went Yui to him. "How are you embarrassed?"

"You ever been stared at by hundreds of eyes as they waited for you to do something?" He asked her. "It's like being naked in public by accident."

"Messed up," went Shinji in response to hearing this, and he knew sort of what he meant…and didn't need anyone knowing about that Synchronization test that required it that way. "How do you put up with it?"

"Me? I just pretend everyone's dressed as hermit crabs."

"That's weird," Suki claimed.

Approaching the entrance among several other potentials, these four Ikaris thought of their reasons for trying and why they were motivated to do what they were doing to become Magic Knights.

Shinji Ikari, the youngest of the family and sole grandchild, aimed to become only what he stated earlier on as a good mage, not unlike the Wizard King, but as a person that was both strong and able to protect the kingdom to the best of their abilities.

Suki Ikari, eldest sister of the trio of siblings and a surviving member of House Ikari from over fifteen-hundred years ago, restored to her youthful body and now fifteen again alongside her nephew, sought to become a witch who was just as great as her mother and late sisters were in their day.

Yui Ikari, younger, maternal half-sister to Tenshi and Suki, former scientist of GEHIRN and resident soul of Evangelion Unit-01 and the estranged mother of Shinji, sought to become a Magic Knight for an old goal that she believed could still be achieved through magic if science were no longer an option.

And Tenshi Ikari, the only son of Rika and Mikazuki and new patriarch of House Ikari, sought not only to improve his magical abilities, but to make sure that Yui, despite her separation from the the Evangelion, had at least of her relatives keeping watch over her as much as possible; this stemmed from the fact that he didn't trust Yui not to do something that was stupid, reckless and unforgivable.

"Your name, ma'am," a woman asked Suki as she was the first of the four to register.

"Suki Ikari. Uh, from the village of Hage."

"Never could understand why anyone lives there. Well, your grimoire, please."

Suki handed her grimoire over, which surprised the woman when she looked at the cover.

"Oh, my… This is a four-leaf clover grimoire," she gasped, looking up and Suki. "Where'd you get a four-leaf clover grimoire? That young man from the Golden Dawn is the only known person to have one with four leaves."

"Six months ago, at the Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony in Hage."

The woman then looked past Suki at her siblings and nephew.

"Whoa," she uttered, and then checked the grimoire. "Okay, your number is seventy-three. Good luck out there."

"Thank you."

Tenshi stepped up to register next and handed over his grimoire.

"Oh, my… You also have a four-leaf clover grimoire?" She questioned.

"Yes. I'm over fifteen-hundred years old. Back then, most of my family had them when they had clovers instead of something else entirely."

She registered him and gave back his grimoire.

"It'd be crazy if all of you had four-leaf clover grimoires, wouldn't it?" She asked him.

"Yes, it would," he agreed, "fortunately, only two of us that came to try for the Magic Knights have grimoires of that sort."

When Yui came to register, her brother had been right about her not having a four-leaf clover on her grimoire; unlike her elder siblings', hers only had three leaves on the clover.

"Good luck out there trying to get into a squad," she told Yui as she gave her the seventy-fifth slot.

When Shinji came up to register, his grimoire was looked at with much confusion due to not having a clover or any symbol belonging to other kingdoms.

"Uh, you sure this is a grimoire?" She asked him, just wanting his honesty.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered her. "It's actually been in my family for a long time. It's just a grimoire I was meant to have."

She looked down at it again, definitely feeling the aura of magical energy that was attuned to its owner, and registered him.

"You're seventy-six," she informed. "Best of luck to you."

"Thank you."

To be continued…


	9. History and Bonds

Creation began on 08-05-18

Creation ended on 08-05-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: History and Bonds

A/N: House Ikari and House Silva aren't the only houses with a past.

House Ikari, even as it was comprised of only five members currently in the Clover Kingdom, still possessed two members from its ancient past that had a history with other houses that still lingered in the present. One of them being House Adlai, which left one of the nobles that inherited their wealth in the present worried that this matriarch, this Rika Ikari, would try to do something to get justice for the descendants of a family she was once best friends with that, according to an old rumor, was unable to help them when they were targeted for assassination over fifteen-hundred years ago.

 _House Ikari was said to be friends with House Adlai, House Vaude, House Legolant, former House Voltia, even commoner families like the Ideales or Swings, many of whom managed to survive over the centuries to the present,_ thought the man that had taken House Adlai's wealth from the two orphaned children after the murder of their parents. _If this woman is indeed Rika Ikari, who knew the House Adlai of the past, she might develop an interest in seeing House Adlai restored to its place among the nobility out of the respect she had for them. She'll come after me…and everyone else that was involved with the parents' deaths. Worse is that many of these descendants are all affiliated with the Black Bulls, and when her family returned because of the prophecy, light shone brightest on their headquarters! They must have some connection to the family that transcends time and space!_

He had reason to be fearful of Rika now, even if it was possible that she wouldn't come after him directly. One other rumor he had heard about the House of Ikari was how they took their relationships with other families, even just individual members of families, very personally. If you so much as did one thing to cause a friend pain or misfortune, you would be attacking them, as well.

 _She might come for me,_ he started stressing over the possibility that Rika would try to rectify what he had done to the Adlai family years ago. _She might come for me because I stole everything from them, and then she'll take everything from me and give it to them…or other people that live with honesty._

" _Do you know what I hate most about nobles that think they're so much better than other people?"_ He imagined the rejuvenated Rika saying to him and his friends and neighbors that helped him. _"I hate nobles that think they're so much better that they have to make themselves better than other nobles out of jealousy or greed. You stole from a family I once knew. Even if I don't know this man and his baby sister, I still respect their family, and will make certain that they get back everything their parents ever had…and you're left with absolutely nothing."_

And his worst fear, just to add how much he imagined the woman despising him for his role, was her taking the magic out of his grimoire and leaving it no different from a regular book.

" _Give your friends this message,"_ he then imagined her telling him. _"I want them to know that anyone that wishes to flaunt their superiority over any other family, no matter who they are, no matter what their personalities are like if they don't compare to your own, it's going to end soon. Even the lowliest of commoners can surpass the status of a noble and become one of us in the future. I should know. Many of my best friends were commoners and they were all stronger than ten of the nobles I knew back in my childhood."_

Even though it was just his imagination, he felt intimidated, and this was just her, a matriarch! If she was backed up by her only son, the new patriarch, they could spell disaster for many of the other nobles that did something like this every few decades.

 _They must never know,_ he thought, hoping that Rika and her son, Tenshi, would never try to do something as crazy as seeking out the descendants of their past relationships.

-x-

"…What are you looking at, Mother?" Tenshi asked Rika as he found her sitting in the living room of their house, looking at an old book that had been salvaged from over fifteen-hundred years ago.

"Pictures of our friends and neighbors from before we had to go away," she answered, showing him a picture of some people that she hung out with when she was a teenager.

"Alexander Legolant?" He uttered, looking at the picture of his mother with a pale-skinned young man that seemed as thin as a twig, but full of life. "Eh-heh! I remember he got married and had three daughters when I was seventeen!"

"Sarah Adlai?"

Looking at a picture of a young woman with salt and pepper hair eyes that were like glass, Tenshi expressed, "The only witch we knew that could use Mirror Magic. She was going to be a well-known mage someday."

Rika turned the page in her book and looked at a picture of another young woman that displayed a lot of electrical energy in the shape of a glowing dress.

"Becca Voltia," she expressed, "the self-proclaimed Lightning Maiden. She and her twin brother, Samson, were skilled combatants and dancers, even though they were commoners."

Tenshi sighed as he sat on the left side of the sofa with Rika.

"Nobles and commoners we got along great with," he uttered. "I miss them."

"I miss them, too. Oh?" Rika went as she looked down at a picture that looked partially burnt on the edges. "Serena."

"What? Serena? You mean, Serena Silva, of House Silva?" Tenshi questioned as she picked up the photo, depicting a young girl with waist-length silver hair, dressed in a blue and purple dress. "I can't believe I had forgotten about her. Even when I saw the Silvas of today's generation…I wasn't thinking about her at all."

"With House Silva, it was impossible to think of them as anything but nobles that thought highly of themselves. But Serena was different due to her circumstances."

"Yeah, she had a difficult time mastering control over her magic. As disciplined mages, it was her family's responsibility to train her, but they cast her out instead. You approached her parents on their choice, right?"

"Yes, I did. Your father and I both did when we were dating. We wanted to know how they, being her parents, could just get rid of her like she didn't matter, and their excuse was that if she couldn't master control on her own, then Serena didn't deserve to be part of their house. My father was outraged by their decision to cast her out like that."

Tenshi turned to the next page and saw a picture of an older Serena wielding a sword made of silver and dressed in a plain, blue dress with a small shawl reaching barely past her elbows. The girl had a serene smile on her face as she stood beside a younger Rika Ikari and Becca Voltia.

"What happened to her back then?" He asked his mother.

"Our family took Serena in, offering to help her to control her magic. It took a little over a year, but she became a skilled witch, one of the best of her generation. And then her parents found out who helped her."

"Sounds like, judging from your tone, she was the only member of House Silva that our family would ever consider a friend."

"Unfortunately, Serena was the only Silva our family would come to see as more than a friend…and unfortunately, her parents viewing her as being pitied upon by our family left a rift so extreme between the two houses that bordered on spite on the part of House Silva."

"So, because our family back then chose to help one of theirs control their magic…the rest of them hated us for it? Whatever happened to Serena after that?"

"Out of spite…her mother disowned her for being taught by us," Rika revealed. "Seventeen years old…and kicked out of her own home."

"That's not fair. It was their fault for not teaching her."

Rika sighed and revealed, "While they cut her off, that just resulted in there being two separate houses under the Silva name. Eventually, when your elder sisters were five, Serena had settled down with a caring man she met in her early-twenties, and they established the second House of Silva. While this caused some confusion because nobody was sure whether it meant that one of the houses was good and the other bad, Serena wanted hers to stress how important it was for family and friends to look out for one another, to never turn your back, even if one thinks they're right to do so."

"Do you ever think her family survived the centuries we've been away?"

"I honestly don't know. As much as it would be nice to believe such, I worry that the Silvas we met are from the house that rejected Serena."

"Eventually, you'll want to try and reach out to these families that exist today. Even if it's only because of old bonds, you'd feel some peace to try and establish new bonds."

"Yeah," she agreed with her son, "eventually."

To be continued…

A/N: Ooh! Now that we gotten that cleared away, the path to the future can begin in the present. What does that mean for certain members of the Black Bulls?


	10. Trial, Error and Success

Creation began on 07-12-18

Creation ended on 08-23-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Trial, Error and Success

This year around, there were at least one-hundred-twenty-five. It was a smaller gathering than last year, possibly due to many people's beliefs that only nobles could join the ranks of the Magic Knights. And this year was also different because of the four family members present.

"They're from House Ikari," a woman told her boyfriend.

"All four of them are here to try for the Magic Knights? I can't believe four out of five of them are trying to become Magic Knights."

"Did you see the boy? He's the only grandchild of the house."

"His aunt and uncle have four-leaf clover grimoires."

"Multiple forms of magic."

Shinji and Yui looked around them and found other mages constantly at them.

"Here they are," uttered Tenshi as the captains of the Magic Knights arrived at the colosseum.

"Each of the captains, second, in both strength and potential, only to the Wizard King," Yui expressed, "and each one the strongest of their squads."

"And they're looking for only the best out of everyone here," added Shinji, his right hand over the pouch strapped to his left leg holding his grimoire.

"It will take a lot of effort to impress them enough to accept us," said Suki.

"Welcome, examinees," William Vangeance greeted everyone, opening his grimoire. "May this year's exam, we see remarkable results from you, the examinees."

Then, as his grimoire glowed, the four Ikaris saw the roots of a giant tree appear out of the sky above them, branching down upon them in the form of long sticks. This was a sample of his chosen spell, the power of Magic Tree Descent. From the long sticks that broke off from the roots, each examinee was bestowed a broomstick.

"We shall begin the exam by using these broomsticks," William explained to them.

 _Okay, that's simple enough,_ thought Shinji as he held his broom; mages that could control the mana in them to influence brooms to do their bidding would be able to display the basic skill of flight. _Except I've never done this before. Tenshi taught us everything else, but we never got to the brooms._

"There's nothing to it, nephew," Tenshi told him, mounting his broom. "Show your broom that you're the boss."

"You mean, like this?" Suki asked, sitting on hers as she flew to the air above. "Ha-ha! This is easy."

Yui mounted hers…and then stood up on it as it took flight.

"Be mature, Suki," she told her, floating higher than her.

"Nobody likes a smart mouth, Yui," went Tenshi, standing on his broom like she did, and then did a handstand on it, showing his balance and coordination. "Be like the wind. Be positive. You're too blunt right now, sis, too rigid."

"Well, at least Shinji's keeping in sync with Suki," she pointed out, pointing to her son as he sat on his broom with his aunt hovering beside him.

"Maybe when you're older, you'll be like them, those daredevils," Suki suggested to him.

"Maybe, but not likely," he responded; he'd been afraid he wouldn't be able to fly the broom, and this was his first time. "Uh, how long do we do this until we have to get down from here?"

"I know you're not asking me, Shinji."

The next sequence of tests included the use of magic bullets to damage stone targets (which Shinji managed to achieve, but he took out four other targets by accident), use of Creation Magic to create small objects (which Suki used to create a custom-made wand, despite trying to create a doll like her mother had at one point) and using their magic to make seeds grow into sunflowers (something Yui sort of messed up with because her sunflower was all metallic, like she influenced its development with Steel Magic, unintentionally).

Upon completion of the last test, William Vangeance announced the next test was to assess the examinees' combat capabilities; the primary point of being a Magic Knight was to be able to fight back with magic, either to protect the kingdom or the people against a foe that threatened them.

"I'll go easy on you, Shinji," said Tenshi to his nephew, selecting him as his partner.

"Go easy on me?" Shinji responded, almost offended. "No, don't hold back. We're supposed to impress the captains with our abilities. I'm not going to hold back my best, whichever it is."

"Better you than your mother, Shinji," Suki stated, pointing to Yui, who was partnered with some brute of a man with scars across his arms and chest. "That guy looks like he won't go easy on anyone, not even a woman."

"If I know Yui enough not to follow her choice of a profession," Tenshi revealed, "that guy might be better off facing someone else."

"You make it sound as though as she's up to something," Shinji suggested, which wasn't far from the truth. "You think she's up to something, don't you?"

"That's the thing; I don't know what she's up to. My aim is to make sure she stays out of trouble."

Everyone that had been paired with a partner took their places on the field, with Shinji and Tenshi going up first.

"Whoa, two members of the House of Ikari going toe-to-toe," a woman whispered in the background.

"That's Tenshi Ikari," a man told someone. "He's the new patriarch. That's his only nephew, Shinji."

"Epic," another girl expressed.

The captains watched in anticipation over the two.

"Let's see if you can best this spell I have, Shinji," Tenshi told his nephew as he opened his grimoire. "Union Creation Magic: Ghidorah's Rage."

As a combination of Gold and Lightning Magic, a golden dragon's head (A/N: Think of the heads of the Heisei series incarnation of King Ghidorah, only like a hologram) manifested around Tenshi, protecting him from external harm.

 _Come on, Shinji, I dare you to attack me. My Ghidorah's Rage is reactive defensive/offensive. The moment it's attacked, it absorbs the energy used against it and sends it back to the source, many times amplified. I want to see what you do to overcome it._

Shinji opened his grimoire…and looked down at the spell that just seemed to be begging to be used by him. But did he dare use it?

"You're asking for what is probably an amateur's attempt at intimidation, Uncle Tenshi," he told him. "Here goes. Anti Magic: Guardian of the Void."

Suddenly, the sky darkened around the colosseum. Shinji's grimoire glowed dark blue as it flipped over to face its pages toward Tenshi. A black vortex formed in front of the pages and two glowing, red eyes snapped open as something emerged from it.

 _This power!_ William thought, feeling an unfathomable degree of magic coming from Shinji.

 _Incredible!_ Yami went, feeling tense in his lower muscles.

 _Who is this boy?!_ Nozel wondered, gripping his seat.

The creature that appeared before when he obtained his grimoire and again in his dreams had emerged from the vortex and stood before the whole colosseum.

"Grrr!" It growled, looking at Tenshi, who started shaking.

"What on Earth is that thing?!" Someone in the crowd gasped.

Everyone from the spectators to the captains themselves was disturbed by the creature's presence. It then raised its left arm up and pointed a talon towards Tenshi…as it bared its fangs.

Within his protective spell, Tenshi got the feeling that this creature Shinji summoned was not something you could get, even with Creation Magic. Not if it was capable of what it just did, which indicated something that nothing made with Creation Magic ever could showcase: Intelligence.

"G…Guardian…of the Void?" He spoke, tense.

The creature took a step forward…and the structure shook, as though this thing weighed enough to rattle the ground with each step. Everyone held onto the pillars nearby as it continued to walk towards Tenshi, its claws outstretched. It knew what it had to do.

"Ah…ah…" Tenshi shuddered as it closed the gap between them.

SLAM! It brought its arms down on his spell…and it came undone.

He was unharmed, but his grimoire was down on the ground, the magic it emanated nonexistent.

 _This thing…negated my spell,_ he realized, falling onto his bottom.

And then, it turned away, as if he weren't a threat any longer. When it returned to the vortex, the sky returned to normal and Shinji approached his uncle.

"Are you alright?" He asked him, offering a hand.

Tenshi accepted and was helped onto his feet.

"Well, I'll be damned, Shinji," he said to his nephew. "I never expected you to have an Anti-Magic spell in your grimoire, let alone one that could summon a beast like that. You're going places, kid."

"Thank you, but I think I overdid it with trying to impress the captains."

"Whatever happens is what will happen."

Next up was a bunch of other examinees that went by slower than what was expected by the bystanders, until Suki went up against a man similar to the guy that Yui was to face.

"You haven't got a snowball's chance against me, little girl," he told her, opening his grimoire and selecting his spell. "Sand Creation Magic: Sand Manta of Fury!"

From his book came a flood of sand that formed into a large manta ray with a wolf's head, baring its fangs at Suki.

"I guess I could scare the crap out of you with this spell," Suki decided.

"Oh, no, don't tell me she's going to use that spell," Shinji gasped, his memory of what his aunt did to scare them during a Creation Magic training exercise returning to his conscious.

"Union Creation Magic: Grizzly Mayhem!"

Using a combination of Thread and Cotton Magic, Suki summoned a large, stuffed bear with razor claws and a serious temperament.

"Rrrraaurgh!" It roared, charging towards the manta.

"Nope," went Tenshi, "she used a bear, not a doll."

SLASH! The stuffed bear cut the manta in half and sent the guy falling backwards, and then he ran away like crazy away from the scene.

Suki was positive that the guy was going to crap his pants.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha!" She laughed, closing her grimoire, making her Grizzly Mayhem vanish.

"Those four-leaf clover grimoires pack quite a punch for whoever has them," a woman said behind Tenshi to someone.

"The number of leaves on a clover has nothing to do with her magic," he responded. "My little sister's just coming into full mastery of her skills in the magical arts."

When Yui's match came up, she decided to go with a different spell, as the one she had worked on creating was likely best reserved for another time. This left her other options open to discussion.

"You're the Ikari with the three-leaf clover grimoire," the brute of a guy uttered as he faced her. "I wonder what set you apart from your elder brother and sister. Let me guess, you don't get along?"

Then, without so much as a warning, Yui did something that wasn't what she usually did with people: She glared at the man before opening her grimoire to choose her spell.

"Blood Steel Magic," she uttered, her very voice sounding cruel, "Goshinki's Fatality."

From her grimoire came a pair of gauntlets that formed around her wrists, and then they grew into large claws that were definitely a combination of flesh and metal.

 _Wait a minute,_ thought Tenshi, familiar with the naming of such spells, _where'd she get a spell like that? I'm practically the otaku of the family 'cause I spent more than half my time reading manga and watching anime. Yui's the science nerd, so she has no grasp for what people do for fun…unless being in the Eva allowed her to poke around Shinji's brain every time he was in it._

As Shinji saw this spell, he started worrying that his mother…just might be a bit off right now as she delved further in the art of magic.

 _In a way…she scares me right now,_ he admitted only to himself.

"Thorn Magic," the guy yelled out. "Ivy's Hidden Kiss!"

Several thorny vines emerged from a small portal that came from his grimoire and were sent flying towards Yui. But Yui, with the grace of an athlete, dashed forward and swung her claws at the vines, cutting them to shreds before she punched the guy in the gut, sending him flying in the air for three seconds before he hit the ground.

"Pathetic," she uttered, her arms returning to normal as she closed her grimoire.

The guy she had defeated then got up and ran out of the place.

"Why do I get the feeling that Yui's something I strive not to be?" Suki told Shinji.

"Which would be?" He asked her, wanting to know himself.

"A lone wolf," she answered.

He turned to look at his mother again, who seemed passive now, and got the feeling that a lone wolf was exactly who she was right now. It was hard to relate to her this way, not like it was easy to relate to his aunt and uncle.

"Now comes the most difficult part of the exam," went Tenshi.

"Getting picked by the captains," Shinji sighed.

"Did we impress them…or did we fail to impress them?" Suki wonders, which held no definite answer.

-x-

A whole year since he was locked up and his humiliation had left him feeling much resentment towards being left behind by his comrades. Did he dare to call them that, anymore? Oh, how Rades Spirito nursed his grudge against the Clover Kingdom for banishing him…and oh, how he hated them even more for locking him up, like this was a foolish way to make up for the former move against him. But no, this was a brutal insult to his pride that he would no longer tolerate.

 _It took me a whole year, but gathering this much magic without my grimoire is such a complex task,_ Rades thought as he had finally gathered the magic necessary to make his move. _Now, Soul Corpse Magic: Vengeance of the Cemetery!_

"Aah!" He could hear the screams of several guards outside his cell, followed by thuds as they fell to the ground. "Aah! Aaaah!"

Then…there came the silence that put a smile on his face.

"How I've missed you, friends," he uttered…as a rotted hand unlocked the cell door for him.

-x-

This was a new twist on the exam. Instead of having your number called in order, the captains were selecting the examinees' numbers at random to decide their fate. So far, forty examinees were randomly called upon…and only seven were chosen to join the squads.

"This is brutal," Suki expressed, watching as a young girl walked away after none of the captains chose her for their squads. "Surely, most of these guys were skilled and doing their best."

"Yeah," Shinji agreed with her.

 _Crazy how they set their standards up so high,_ thought Tenshi as another random number was called by the announcer. _Even the lowliest commoner has the potential to make it to the big leagues if just given the chance to prove their mettle. Even the lowliest commoner has the potential to become someone that other commoners can aspire to be one day._

When the young man called upon was selected by the Azure Deer squad, the examinee with number seventy-five was then called upon.

 _How will you fare, little sis?_ Tenshi wondered as Yui presented herself to the captains. _Did you impress them with your skills?_

There was a silence that lasted for three seconds before the captains made their choice regarding the Ikari woman…and soon came the gasps from the other examinees as eight of the nine captains raised their hands for Yui.

"Unbelievable," a girl went.

"The Silver Eagle captain," added a man. "He's the only one that didn't raise his hand."

"Excluding the Silver Eagles, every other squad captain wants her," another man uttered.

"I didn't think Yui would impress them that much," Suki stated.

Yui had to choose which of her squad options met her standards if she was going to reach her goal now.

"I choose…the Golden Dawn," she selected.

 _Kami,_ Tenshi thought, worried; out of the nine squads, they were among the best of the best.

It would take a miracle of his own to get into that squad to keep tabs on his sister now.

"Tell me something," Shinji spoke to him. "You're joining the Magic Knights just to keep an eye on my mother…aren't you?"

He looked at his nephew and responded, "I'll be honest, Shinji, but after the revelation of what she was up to with the Eva, along with her gaining a grimoire, I don't trust your mother not to do something similar with magic."

Shinji looked concerned and uttered, "Be careful. If you get into the Golden Dawn, you watch your own back more than you watch hers. And if she is up to something, don't try to be a hero and confront her about it. Keep your distance…because I want to deal with her by myself."

"You want to deal with her…by yourself, Shinji?"

"Yeah, that's right. I'll deal with her by myself."

It was the way he said it that Tenshi found a little disturbing; for a brief time, the patriarch had noticed how his nephew would display bouts of determination and an increase in his confidence that he hadn't possessed before he came into his discovery of magic and was, seemingly, seesawing between who he was…and who he was becoming.

 _It's probably related to his celestial horoscope,_ he simply wanted to believe.

"Number seventy-four!" The announcer called.

"That's you, Tenshi," went Suki. "Go get 'em!"

Tenshi went up to the captains and put his faith in fate that he'd get a similar response from them.

What he got was quite a surprise. Like his sister, eight out of nine of the squad captains raised their hands for him.

"Incredible!" A man in the background expressed.

"Who are these Ikaris?" A woman questioned.

"It looks like the Silver Eagle captain has a grudge against the family or something," another woman uttered. "It might be the same for all four of them."

"It's their loss if they reject them," went another man.

With his choices now open to him, Tenshi selected to join the Golden Dawn.

"Congratulations, big brother!" Suki cheered for him.

"You're the best!" Shinji added.

Yui began to wonder if all four of them had aspirations to join the same squad. If they did, then the Golden Dawn would probably go down in history for having members of House Ikari its ranks. But that was only IF they all had aspirations to join the same squad.

"Shinji, which one of the squads do you intend to join if you get more than one to choose from?" Suki asked her nephew. "It's very possible that the Silver Eagles won't be an option."

"If I get more than one squad to choose from," he uttered, "I know which one to choose, but I'd rather wait until after I'm called to let my fate be decided. What's your squad choice?"

"I'll join the same one as you. That's why I asked."

"You don't have your own choice?"

"I'd rather stay close to you, no matter which squad you choose."

"If I don't get picked, you should probably choose to join the Blue Rose or Coral Peacock, should you get more than one choice."

-x-

"Strange," Misato uttered as everyone in Gendo's office continued to look through the photo album like a story, "it looks like Shinji's mother and uncle joined the same squad, but he and his aunt haven't chosen a squad yet."

"Maybe it's like a lottery," suggested Asuka, "they're waiting for their turn to choose a squad."

"Do you think it's possible that he'll choose the same squad as his mother?" Kaji questioned.

"Ikari-Kun doesn't seem interested in being in the same squad as his mother," went Rei, surprising everyone in the office.

"What makes you say this?" Ritsuko asked her.

"Ikari-Kun…seems distant with her. The farther he drifts away from her, the closer he seems to be towards his grandmother, aunt and uncle."

Asuka turned to the next page…and gasped.

"What in the name of Gott is going on here?" She pointed to a photo where it looked like Shinji was trapped within some sort of conflict, his left hand clutched against his chest, his clothes ripped, and the left side of his face smeared in blood that seeped from a wound on his head. Gripped in his right hand was a katana unsheathed, his expression that of someone enraged by something or someone. Beside him was an open book bathed in a dark glow…and behind him was the creature that seemed to come from within the book.

Other pictures displaying something different from the regular, old pictures beside them depicted people running in the streets…and from what looked like people afflicted with fatal wounds and decaying flesh.

"Zombies?" Misato wondered aloud.

"Magical undead exist there, too?" Fuyutsuki questioned. "Shinji must be fighting them."

-x-

Shinji's number was soon called and he stood before the captains, nervous as frightened cats in surrounded by a bunch of dogs, but he didn't show it. He had hoped to impress them enough to get his choice of squad to join.

There was a silence that seemed to last for a long second…before…

"Suspend the exam!" Someone shouted. "Suspend the exam now!"

One of the guards from outside the colosseum ran out in front of the captains, taking their attention away from Shinji.

"Kikka is under attack!" He informed them. "Rades Spirito has escaped from prison!"

"Where are the other Magic Knights?" Dorothy asked him.

"They've all been summoned, but the army Spirito raised is too much for them this time. It's bigger than it was in the capital! They can't find him!"

William stood up and approached the remaining examinees.

"Apologies, but until further notice, the exam is suspended," he declared. "Those accepted into their squads today, this is the day you prove your worth as Magic Knights."

The other captains got up and vacated the top of the building.

"Who's Rades Spirito?" Suki asked.

"He's a former Magic Knight that was expelled from the Purple Orcas and kicked out of the kingdom," a woman that hadn't been selected yet informed her.

"Wait a minute, if he was a Magic Knight, why was he kicked out?"

"According to the captain of the Purple Orcas, his form of magic made him infamous among them, and they cast him out before he could become a threat to them."

"It sounds like what they did resulted in the very thing they wanted to prevent, regardless. Why didn't they just talk it out?"

"It's unknown if they ever did."

As the colosseum was emptied as the people were being evacuated to shelters, only Shinji stood alone where he was. He wasn't upset that the exam was suspended; he was upset that someone was attacking the people of the town, that the Magic Knights, who were supposed to be the best and brightest mages of the Clover Kingdom, were unable to resolve the situation quickly.

 _Depending on the number of mages within any squad, the Magic Knights are, in and of themselves, a small army that could do the work of any large army,_ he thought, _but they're being troubled by just one man with an army they're having difficulty with. How is that possible? How are they unable to resolve this matter?_

Suddenly, his grimoire glowed dark red and his body started to manifest the same glow.

 _You must find out,_ a voice told instructed.

Shinji looked up…and turned away.

To be continued…

A/N: I guess the title could refer to how the exam was the trial, Rades Spirito being imprisoned within the kingdom was the error because he was making a plan to escape and resume his revenge, and Yui and Tenshi getting into the Golden Dawn and Rades invading Kikka were the success. I look forward to what Shinji will do in the next chapter. Peace.


	11. Conversation, not Conflict

Creation began on 08-23-18

Creation ended on 01-01-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Victory through Conversation, not through Conflict

Within the shadows, Rades, having reclaimed his grimoire, watched as the city of Kikka was on fire whilst overrun by his undead army. Over a year in prison had allowed him to mellow out over his defeat and incarceration, as well as his humiliation, and he came to the realization and acceptance that his defeat was only possible because of how he did so to be dealt it. Relying upon only one spell was his mistake. He accepted that, and knew that if he was to gain vengeance against the Clover Kingdom, to rectify his failure, he would require more than just one spell to do it all.

It was through this acceptance of his defeat, he had achieved magical maturity within his heart, learning from his mistake. Through this realization, his grimoire had matured with him when he reclaimed it, filling itself with new pages to supplement the original one he relied so heavily on. And now, with new spells to reaffirm his conviction, he was ready to resume his goal to take down the kingdom and get his revenge.

"Time to release my playmates," he uttered, opening his grimoire to one of its newest pages. "Soul Corpse Creation Magic: Skull Army of the Damned!"

From this spell, several skeletons with swords and shields formed from the ground, their empty sockets glowing with green fire. They stood in attendance to Rades, as if awaiting his orders.

"Welcome, my friends," he greeted them. "More than a year, it's been…and yet you stand before me as though…it were only yesterday. I've been looking forward to this. Let's go show the Clover Kingdom the fruits of their arrogance."

-x-

BLAST! The walking corpses were blown away by Tenshi's magic bullet after he got a family of five away from them.

 _These aren't normal corpses here,_ he realized, examining the remains of one corpse nearby and saw no trace of decayed bone or muscle tissue present. _No bone, no muscle tissue, not even coagulated blood. It's as though these corpses are just…fake, dummies made to look like them, but are no different from clay figures. They just move and make noises a zombie would make. But there's a measure of magic in them, animating them so that they can move on their own accord…and is very strong, too. This is the work of Rades Spirito, huh? Something tells me that facing him won't be easy. Then again, I don't expect easy. I expect difficult._

Behind him, a zombie appeared, wielding a butcher knife, ready to stab him in the back.

"Sword Magic: The Maiden's Graceful Mercy," Tenshi uttered, and from his grimoire emerged a longsword that pierced the zombie in the back of its skull and out its forehead.

"How'd you know there was a zombie behind you?" He heard his squad mate in the Golden Dawn, the sixteen-year-old Mimosa Vermillion, ask him. "You never turned around."

"I have good hearing, Ms. Vermillion," he answered. "In absence of sight, learn to hear the world around you. Learn to measure the distance between yourself and someone else by recognizing the sound of their footsteps, the pace of their heartbeat, the measure of air that enters and leaves their nose and lungs. You can even hear the twitch in one's fingers if you focus hard enough. Don't rely on just magic to solve your dilemma."

"Something you learned to do during your exile?"

"No…something I learned when I was seven."

Mimosa bowed her head in admiration towards his non-magical ability. Something told her she could learn a bit more from an Ikari that was over fifteen-hundred years everyone else's superior.

"These zombies aren't real," she heard him say to her. "They're dummies made to look like zombies. Wasn't Rades Spirito reported by the Magic Knights to only be capable of using a single spell, that grimoire only possessed one page?"

"That's what was reported? But the zombies at that time were…like people that were possessed."

"What type of magic does he use?"

"Something called Soul Corpse Magic. We don't really understand it."

"Magic that hasn't been documented or categorized is always something of interest."

Suddenly, several more of the zombies came from around the corner, armed with larger swords and shields.

"I'm guessing Mr. Spirito learned some new tricks," Tenshi expressed, impressed.

-x-

These corpses were different from the ones that attacked the capital. They were refined, stronger and more dangerous. Not only that, but they knew how to fight, as well. This was something that even Nozel couldn't deny when three of them tried to gang up on him.

 _Pests,_ he thought as he fired another magic bullet at one, obliterating it to pieces. _For every one I take down…seven more take its place._

"Urgh!" He heard a woman grunt and saw Yui had slain twenty-three of them at the same time with her Goshinki's Fatality.

 _She looks like she could fight like a demon,_ he thought, just in time to see her dispatch twelve more that approached her. _She IS a demon._

In the air above the other knights, Yuno, who had been informed by William that two of the four Ikaris that had attended the exam had joined the Golden Dawn, was blowing the zombies away with the aid of his wind spirit. He not only saw Yui, but noticed the measure of magic she was using was very precise, not too much or too little, and her claw-based spell was quite deadly.

Sylph noticed his expression towards the woman and remarked, "Not bad for a woman that wields a three-leaf clover grimoire."

Unfortunately, even Wind Magic seemed to be ineffective against the zombies' numbers; they just seemed to increase with each assault made upon them.

 _They have to be coming from somewhere,_ he realized.

From afar in the air above the town, Yuno saw what looked like zombies being sent flying in random directions, like they'd been attacked by something. He decided to investigate the matter.

Down below, after taking down twenty more zombies at once, Yui felt the presence of powerful magic nearby, feeling drawn to it.

 _Is this one of the veteran Magic Knights?_ She wondered, seeing that she would have to fight through an incoming horde of walking dead to get an answer.

-x-

There were at least three children cornered by zombies that were about to be harmed. A little girl screamed for her mother when one of them raised its sword up to strike them.

"Aaaahh!" She screamed as she closed her eyes.

CLANG! The end that she and her friends feared today hadn't come yet…and she opened her eyes to see why.

The zombie's sword had been blocked…by another sword…wielded by a young man that came in the nick of time.

"Hrrrugh!" He grunted, pushing the zombie back and swinging his sword horizontally, sending a magic wave out at the other zombies present, reducing them to piles of dust. "Are you three alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

The girl looked up at him and saw that he looked injured, but didn't show it.

"We're okay, sir," she answered him. "Who are you? Are you a Magic Knight?"

"No," he answered, "not yet."

Then he walked away, swinging his sword at some more zombies that stood in his way, leaving the children in order to face the enemy of this town.

"Who was he?" The boy child with them wondered.

"I think that was one of the Ikaris," the second girl suspected.

"Shinji Ikari? Wasn't he trying for the exam today?"

"Maybe he didn't get picked."

Little did they that they were right about that. Shinji Ikari didn't get his results from the captains. But he wasn't about to let that and the suspended exam get in his way of doing something to help the people that lived in Kikka from a former Magic Knight that had a reason for attacking them this way; nobody does anything, not even something horrible, without a reason behind the act. The sooner he found this Rades Spirito, the sooner the town could go back to its peaceful existence and the people could go back to their regular lives.

With that in mind, his grimoire opened up and revealed to him a katana exactly as the one the Guardian of the Void held in his dream…and Shinji felt an influx of strength that didn't feel like his a while back as he grabbed the hilt of the blade.

 _You know where you need to be,_ the voice of the Guardian told him, _follow the flow of magic, and you'll meet him where you need to face him._

And Shinji ran up and down streets, across alleys and towards whatever zombies stood between himself and his objective.

-x-

"…Hmm?" Rika went, noticing her grimoire was glowing bright blue and transmitting an energy stream of the same color towards a small, circular object on the right of it shaped like a pocket mirror. "Is someone calling me?"

Among the items of her family that were salvaged from over fifteen-hundred years ago, House Ikari had access to Communication Magic Tools that served as supplements to their ability to access the multiple forms of magic that existed. And when they relocated back to the Forsaken Region, Rika took these tools and made sure her children and grandson each had one to keep in touch with her and each other across long distances; just because they were capable of using Communication Magic at will once they had practiced, it didn't mean they would rely upon it all the time…and Rika had put their cell phones away since the Clover Kingdom didn't have the technology necessary to create satellites or cell towers to make them efficient, anyway.

She picked up her device and opened it, unleashing a small window of light that revealed Suki's face before her.

"Hello, Suki," she greeted her daughter. "How has the exam been so far?"

"It was suspended," Suki revealed to her. "A former Magic Knight-turned-enemy broke out of prison and is attacking Kikka with these…dummy zombies."

"What?"

"But the Magic Knights are dealing with it right now. "Tenshi and Yui got picked by eight of the nine squads and both joined the Golden Dawn. They're helping to find the guy and apprehend him again."

"That's good, but what about you and Shinji?"

"We were about get to his results when the exam was suspended, but the reason I'm calling is because…has Shinji contacted you?"

"No, he hasn't. In fact, you're the first to call me since you four left today to go to Kikka. Why?"

"He just disappeared on me when I turned my head away ask others here what they knew about this…Rades Spirito guy. I keep trying to contact him, but he's not answering."

"Hold on. I'm coming to where you are right now. I have a spell that should help find him."

She closed the tool up and grabbed her grimoire.

"Spatial Magic: To the Point of Calling," she uttered the spell chosen, and a ring of green light materialized above her and floated downward.

In less than two seconds, Rika was right beside Suki in Kikka. She could see several people running as fast as they could away from where the danger had to be…and she could feel the degree of magic being emanated from where they were running from.

"I'm guessing today has been full of unexpected surprises," she told Suki.

"The exam being suspended because of one rogue mage is unexpected," Suki responded. "Everything else is a disaster. I can't even begin to fathom why this had to happen today, of all days, and here, of all places."

"I used to ask myself the same question on your birthday. The answer always eluded me, not that it was an answer I could accept, anyway. Well, here goes the spell."

She opened her grimoire to the page necessary to locate Shinji and hoped it was sufficient enough in doing the required task.

"Compass Thread Magic: Link to the Missing!"

A hand-sized compass emerged from her grimoire and shot out a small, blue thread that led towards the danger, acting as a guide and pathway to where the person they were looking for was likely to be.

"Wow," Suki stated, impressed by her mother's spell.

"The compass says to follow the blue thread to Shinji," Rika told her, and then ran towards the danger. "You coming or staying here, Suki?"

Suki followed her mother and hoped that her nephew was fine.

 _As soon as I know he's fine,_ she thought to herself, _I'll yell at him until his eardrums explode._

-x-

"Time to improve upon my friends," Rades expressed atop a building roof as he unlocked another new spell that was a result of his maturity. "Soul Corpse Reinforcement Magic: Ectoplasmic Fortification!"

The zombies that were already present across Kikka were suddenly augmented and made stronger than they were previously, now as big as seven-and-a-half feet and having bulging muscles wherever possible on their decayed bodies.

"Soul Corpse Curse Magic: Poison of the Covenant!" Rades added another spell to his zombie minions, incorporating poison into their bodies to make them walking plagues. "The double-edged sword of my vengeance against the Clover Kingdom is now guaranteed. To attack my friends is to be attacked by them, regardless."

Suddenly, he felt an unusual degree of magic coming from nearby, and saw several of his augmented getting slashed away by some kid with a sword, protecting some civilians that couldn't get away.

"Who does he think he is?!" He wondered and jumped off the rooftop to the ground, facing him. "Boy with the sword! You have some nerve attacking my friends like that!"

The boy looked at him and grimaced slightly, like he wanted to run, but couldn't, and then pointed his sword at him.

"Are you Rades Spirito?" He asked, his tone a cross between determined and frightened.

"Yes, I am," Rades answered. "Are you a Magic Knight?"

"I am not. I'm just a guy that wants to stop you before this escalates any further."

"You're not a Magic Knight, huh?! Ha-ha-ha-ha! What hope do you think you have against beating me?!"

"Actually, sir, I just want to talk with you."

"Well, I don't want to talk to anyone."

"Then how am I supposed to know what your problem is with the Clover Kingdom if we don't have a conversation?"

"You wanna know what my problem is with the Clover Kingdom? It's these damned superiority-driven nobles that run it! They think that just because they're born into wealth and privilege, they're the ones in control, that they can decide who gets to be in the Magic Knights and who's a failure or even a disgrace to the kingdom that doesn't belong! I aim to resolve this by eliminating the Magic Knights!"

But Shinji didn't but this in its entirety. Whatever Rades' actual reason for attacking the people was, Shinji had to get to the bottom of it.

"We should really talk, Mr. Spirito," he told the man.

"I don't want to talk to some noble!" Rades yelled.

"But I'm not a noble, sir, as far as I know. I don't even live in Noble or Common Regions. I live in Hage in the Forsaken Region."

But Rades just walked away from Shinji.

"Seriously, Mr. Spirito, I just want to talk with you!" Shinji yelled at him, but his zombies blocked his way. "Communication Sealing Magic: Dome of Conversation!"

Suddenly, Rades' path away from the boy was blacked off by a wall of energy that pushed him backwards toward the middle of the street with his minions that were inside with him. All around them were a dark blue field of magical energy that formed a dome, surrounding him, his undead, Shinji and some strange creature behind him.

"Can we talk now, Mr. Spirito?" Shinji asked him.

"Kill him!" Rades ordered his undead legion, and they charged towards Shinji.

Shinji approached them and swung his sword (cue to _Guess Who Is Back_ by Koda Kumi) at them, eliminating them from existence. As there were at least forty of them within the dome, Shinji had to eliminate at least thirty-two more before he could get near Rades.

The Guardian of the Void jumped into the air under the dome and slammed down on four of the zombies, reducing them to vapor, and pushing the rest of the zombies back towards Rades.

"How is this possible?!" He demanded, seeing one of his zombies get their head grabbed on by the Guardian and sent flying towards the roof of the dome while Shinji slashed away at ten more zombies that approached him, receiving a small cut to his right cheek just near his eye. "Who the Hell do you think you are, boy?!"

Shinji and Guardian took out seven more zombies until Rades was left with only three of them…and then none. Then Shinji, despite now sporting a sword slash on his left side, brandished his sword in front of Rades and looked at him menacingly with the Guardian of the Void standing behind him with a similar look of malice directed towards him with his claws outstretched and at his sides.

"Rades Spirito," Shinji uttered, "please, sit down…and talk with me. If I wanted to kill you or just harm you, I would've done so already."

Rades looked at his grimoire and thought about using another spell, but the book was on the ground and no magic was emanating from its pages; whatever this dome was, it was restricting the magic he had in his possession. Right now, he had no choice but to abide by this kid's demand to sit and talk with him. So, sitting on the ground in front of him, he surrendered for the time being.

"You're just going to hand me over to the Magic Knights as soon as they arrive, aren't you?" He asked Shinji, wanting to know at least that much.

"Even if they show up, they're going to have to wait until our conversation ends, and that could take a while," Shinji told him, sitting down in front of him with his sword sitting behind him. "But while they're forced to wait, they can help assure the people you terrified that things are safe for now because your zombies are no longer around; as long as you're inside this dome, your magic is sealed off and whatever spells you had active outside are cancelled, leaving my sword and Guardian of the Void as the only active spells."

Now Rades was nervous. If he couldn't use his magic, he was at this kid's mercy.

"What do you want?" he asked him.

"I just want to talk," Shinji answered him. "You used to be a Magic Knight, a protector of the Clover Kingdom. What is your grudge against them? Why do you want to hurt them?"

"I've already told you why."

"What you told me was just a fraction of what could be the reason, but not the whole sum of it. I want to know your reason, whatever it is. You have my undivided attention, Rades Spirito."

This was a first for Rades. Prior to his exile, nobody in the Purple Orca would listen to him. Not even the Magic Knights of the other squads would hear him out, not that they were even present when he was disposed of. While the members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun listened to him, it was only because they wanted revenge against the Clover Kingdom, as well, but this boy…who wasn't a Magic Knight yet…was willing to listen to him, to hear his reason for his hatred.

"You really want to know?" He asked him.

"I wouldn't be here waiting for you if I didn't want to know," Shinji sighed as it looked like some people were gathering around outside the dome. "Don't mind them, they can't get in."

-x-

"What is this dome here?" Nozel wondered as he and the other Magic Knights showed up, and saw Rades Spirito inside it with the boy from the House of Ikari, sitting on the ground with some creature identical to the one seen earlier at the magic exam. "What is he doing in there with him?"

"You're just going to hand me over to the Magic Knights as soon as they arrive, aren't you?" They heard Rades' voice emanate from the dome.

"Even if they show up, they're going to have to wait until our conversation ends, and that could take a while," they heard Shinji say to him.

Nebra didn't like this (mostly because an Ikari was talking to an ex-Magic Knight disgrace) and looked around and saw Asta with her black sheep sister.

"You, Black Bull boy," she yelled at them. "Use that sword of yours and break open that dome!"

Asta looked at the dome and saw the Ikari boy sitting in front of Rades and wasn't sure what was going on exactly between them, other than what appeared to be a conversation.

"I don't think I should," he told her.

"He's in danger as long as he in there with that enemy. Get him out."

Asta raised up his Demon-Slayer Sword, prepared to cut open the dome, but then the creature behind the Ikari boy turned to face him.

It walked up to the side of the dome they were facing and raised its right claw up, phasing through the dome, and pointed at Asta…before raising the tip of its index talon up in a gesture. It gestured 'no' to them.

"Does anyone know what this creature is?" Asta asked, confused.

"It doesn't act like any creature made with Creation Magic would," Klaus stated; he had been present when the magic exam started and saw the creature being unleashed by the boy that had yet to get his results when it was suspended. "The spell that summoned it was an Anti-Magic one. If anything, this creature is an intelligent one."

"…I was with the Magic Knights for three years until I was exiled," they heard Rades say to Shinji; their conversation was still going on while they were outside talking.

"And why were you exiled?" Shinji had asked him.

"My former squad, the Purple Orca, began to fear my magic, and saw me as a threat. One day, they turned on me and ran me out of the kingdom."

"Wait a minute, you mean they just…decided to run you out of the kingdom like that? They didn't just…sit down with you and explain why they were afraid of you? Was the Wizard King even aware of this?"

"As far as I know, the Wizard King was either the one that approved of their decision to cast me out…or he was never informed."

"That's not right. That's not right at all. As the top mage, if he wasn't informed, he alone has the last say to anything. If your squad just up and decided to exile you, it was uncalled for because they were the ones to make the choice without the say-so of the Wizard King. What sort of magic do you specialize in?"

"I use Soul Corpse Magic."

"What is that, exactly?"

"I can use magic to create and manipulate the dead. It's also called Wraith Magic."

"Can anyone else do it?"

"Somebody shut this kid up," Nozel demanded. "End this conversation!"

"I am the only person within the entire kingdom that can do this sort of magic," Rades explained to Shinji.

"Then that sounds like something that would actually impress the Wizard King. He always seems interested in some type of magic that nobody else knows about. It's likely that he wasn't informed about your exile, meaning the Magic Knights are at fault for your grudge."

"Who does this Ikari think he is?" Solid questioned.

Tenshi walked over to him and responded, "He's someone that's actually getting to the root of someone else's anger. To defeat your enemy, you must understand your enemy."

"Well spoken, Tenshi," they heard Rika say to him as she and Suki showed up, following a glowing thread of magical energy connected to a compass. "It looks like Shinji has this under control for now."

"Your grandson has nothing under control, ma'am," Nebra told her. "He's just interfering in the affairs of the Magic Knights and hindering the apprehension of a rogue mage."

"How is he interfering? From the looks of it, he's just talking to the guy." Rika stated her perception of the situation.

"Who was that?" Asta asked, pointing to the dome.

"Who was who?" Noelle asked him.

"I thought I saw someone else in the dome with them," he explained, pointing to the dome. "It was only for a second, but it looked like another guy."

"I thought I saw a woman," went Mimosa, pointing to the dome herself.

Nozel looked at the dome…and for a second himself…thought he saw three more people present, but they weren't there, anymore.

"…I used to live in Nean of the Common Region when I was starting out as a mage," Rades told Shinji. "When I received my grimoire, I headed off to apply for the Magic Knights. I was considered strong for a commoner, which earned me my admittance into the Purple Orca squad. Back then, all I wanted to do was to serve the kingdom with my magic and show the people that they didn't need to be nobles just to be knights."

"Didn't seem bad at all," Shinji responded. "I've seen your magic, and it's quite high. It has to be if you're able to create and maintain so many zombies without it creating a strain on you."

"Thank you."

"What did your parents think of your status when you were accepted into the Magic Knights?"

"I don't know who they were. They died a long time ago. I don't think they were from around Nean or any of the villages associated with the Common Region."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"What of your family? They must be proud of your magic."

"Heh, my family is…is… Well, it's just my mother, grandmother, aunt and uncle, and it's hard to tell as a whole, really. Individually, I know my grandmother, aunt and uncle are impressed by me, but as for my mother, it's complicated."

"She's either proud of you…or she isn't."

"It doesn't really have anything to do with magic. A while back…before we even came here…she did something that was uncalled for."

"What did she do?"

"Childhood neglect…in a sense…for a little over ten years… I wish I could say more, but for the time being, I…don't really know her. I admit that that's just messed up, and I've been living with her for over six months since she came back. Does that make me a bad person to keep her at a distance? To not know if she's repentant of her negligence?"

"Honestly, young man, I think that just means you haven't forgiven her for her negligence yet. That's something hard to do for anyone that feels ignored by their parents. What about your father? Where's he in all of this?"

All eyes were on Yui, who seemed bothered by this aspect of the past.

"He's not around," they heard Shinji say to Rades. "He's not dead; he's just…not anywhere around the Clover Kingdom. He's somewhere back in the other world I lived in before I got here…and it's probably better if he didn't come here."

"Why is that?"

"I don't have to worry about what he could do to anyone here if were able to use magic, not that he could, however; he wasn't exposed to any levels of sufficient mana or experienced any degree of magic, and if he were, it'd probably be a bad thing because he isn't a nice person."

"Except not all mages are nice people."

"I understand that; I found out that some mages from some other families went and attacked mine, forcing three of them to flee into exile just to avoid getting murdered out of hatred."

"Exile…three of them… I'm sorry, but which house are you from?"

"The House Ikari, sir."

"You're from House Ikari? You mean to say that…House Ikari…has returned from their exile?"

"Uh, yes, that's right."

"House Ikari, believed by a handful of those that read whatever information they could about them to be the strongest of all the houses of nobility and royalty. You're a lucky person to be related to such a family."

"I'm lucky just to have them. I find it unusual for anybody to have some sort of vendetta against them; my grandmother, aunt and uncle are the kindest people I know, and from what Rika and Tenshi tell me, I had a bunch of other relatives I'll never meet that were also great. I can't imagine why anyone would want to hurt them or hate them."

"Take it from a commoner that was exiled by a bunch of nobles. It's a superiority struggle between the noble and royal houses. They want more of everything all the time: More wealth, more success, more admiration, more…magic. They can claim to be friends and allies, but when it comes to wanting to be the best, they won't hesitate to turn on each other when the opportunity for personal advancement presents itself."

"If it's superiority that drives these houses, I can't see where my family falls into the struggle. I mean, my grandmother did say that a long time ago, our family did live in the capital, but one day chose to relocate to the Forsaken Region. All she really understood about the relocation was that our family was more understanding of people from places where mana was either scarce or they were overlooked by nobles that didn't believe they could measure up to them."

"Watch out for House Silva, though. Of all the houses, they're the one with the most animosity towards anyone affiliated with House Ikari. I think they're the ones that wanted to exterminate your family the most less than two millennia ago."

"House Silva… You mean those three people with the silver hair done in extreme styles that make them stand out too much than their clothing does?"

Noelle got confused by Shinji's question towards Rades; did he not know about her?

"If you mean Nozel Silva, Nebra Silva and Solid Silva, they're the members of the Silver Eagle squad," Rades explained. "Very egotistic, looking down upon anyone, and they don't look like they ever smile unless it's with a hint of sadism."

Suddenly, Shinji looked at the Magic Knights and saw the three individuals of House Silva that just sent a chill down his spine.

"Wasn't there another member, someone younger?" He asked Rades as he turned back to face him. "I thought there was, but they weren't with them."

"If there was, they don't mention them."

"Well, the Silver Eagle squad wasn't one of my choices if I got accepted today. I saw how the guy in charge of didn't raise his hand when my mother and uncle were getting their results. If House Silva hates my family, then it's pretty obvious the reason the Silver Eagle captain didn't raise his hand was out of spite. With any of House Ikari, there's always going to be spite that's unnecessary because of them."

"And what is your squad choice…if you get more than one to choose from?"

"That I'm keeping to myself until I get my results…if I get them. So…what'd you do after you were excommunicated from the Magic Knights?"

Rades sighed as he hated what he had to do to survive.

"The Purple Orca, my former squad, drove me off into territory controlled by the Diamond Kingdom. My former captain declared I was their problem now. I had to steal food from their villages when I was hungry, I had to hide from their mages whenever they went looking for me, and that was for two years until the Eye of the Midnight Sun found me and asked me to join them. Of course, I was more than willing to join them."

"What is the Eye of the Midnight Sun? Who are they?"

"They're a group of rogue mages cast aside by the Clover Kingdom's royalty and nobility. They wish to overthrow them and rebuild the kingdom into a place where there's equality for everyone. That appealed to me. And they didn't look down upon me. They didn't see me as some sort of freak of disgrace. They saw my worth, my value, my magic."

"I saw your magic in action when I was looking for you. Again, it's very impressive. You have a lot to be proud of, Mr. Rades."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you saw my grimoire before I broke out today."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because when I started out after receiving my grimoire…it only had one page."

It sounded like Rades had difficulty in revealing this to Shinji, who didn't seem the least affected by this revelation.

"That's actually impressive," went Rika.

"Really?" Suki asked her.

"Yeah, anyone that could master such magic and only require one page in their grimoire to do so is actually very gifted."

"…That's actually pretty neat," they all heard Shinji say to Rades in the dome.

"What?" He asked him.

"When you joined the Magic Knights, when you joined the Eye of the Midnight Sun, when you attacked the capital a year ago, before my family returned, your grimoire had only one spell…and you were able to do a lot with it. Bad, the way you used it, it was, yes, but still incredible. I've seen mages, including my grandmother and uncle, needing to use a variety of spells to do different things when magic is required, and they have to jump through the pages. But you, with just one spell… I bet if the Wizard King saw you in action when you were still with the Magic Knights, he'd be fascinated by what you're capable of."

"You…really think so?"

"May I see the spell, please?"

"Do you suppose he's going to try and take his grimoire from him?" William Vangeance asked Rika, seeing Rades pick up his book in showed the requested spell to the boy.

"He's not going to take it from him," she answered him. "If he wanted to, he would've done so earlier. He's just interested in who this guy is, impressed by his backstory."

"…This is the spell?" Shinji asked him.

"Yes," he answered. "Go ahead and put me down. Say that it's an embarrassment. I admit it. I accept it."

"Man, I can't look down upon you over this. A single spell like this deserves praise, not contempt or shame. I mean, even the name defines its purpose. Wraith Magic: Guidance of the Damned. Over time, your magic must've refined the spell so that it functions like a multitude of spells for you. And look at these new pages that are the result of your acceptance of your previous defeat and magical growth. I'm sure if you went up against the Diamond Kingdom, the Magic Knights would have no choice but to admit they were wrong about what they did to you…because they didn't see your worth or try to understand your magic. I'd say that it's human nature to fear what they don't understand, but they understand magic…and chose not to understand your magic."

"Your honesty…is unbearably meaningful."

"But…what the Eye of the Midnight Sun aims to do, however, even with your service to them… It isn't the right way to go about it."

"Why is that? Nothing else works with the royals and nobles."

"It's just senseless violence. You attack with violence, they respond with violence in defense of their people and freedom. And while equality for everyone isn't such a bad thing, the way you want to achieve it is unrealistic. It's unrealistic because there's danger involved, risks you can't avoid and a price you might not be willing to pay."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"Because…back in the world I lived in…my mother, during her negligence of me…wanted something unrealistic. But now we're here, where what she had attempted to achieve with science…came undone the moment I got my grimoire. A giant she had helped create got sucked into it and became a spell I made a promise to myself that I would never use. Anything desired by one may not be desired by all…and anything desired by all shouldn't be forced upon anyone that doesn't seek it, even if it's claimed to solve a problem they have."

"Still, these Magic Knights, they enrage my pride, infuriate me with their arrogance."

"If you hold a grudge against the Magic Knights, you should go after them through legal channels. Demand an audience with the Wizard King, like file a complaint against your former squad mates, not take out your anger on the people that didn't do anything to you. You go after them through a path of suffering, nothing will be solved. Anyone that chooses to use violence to resolve anything, all that'll happen is more suffering. I understand that there will always be a need for military powers, but if people talked out their problems, you'd be able to achieve better solutions than you would never see with them."

"And why did you want to become a Magic Knight to begin with?"

"Why I want to be a Magic Knight? I want to be a good mage like those of my family."

"Sounds like you want to be the Wizard King someday."

"No, not him; I don't ever see myself becoming the Wizard King, no matter how strong I became over time. But if I became a Magic Knight, I'd want for there to be equality between all three regions. Heh, tax the rich, feed the poor…until they aren't that rich no more. Instead of trying to change the world on a large scale, I'd be trying to change it one day at a time by dealing with the problems of the people."

"And if that doesn't work out?"

"You can't change the world until you yourself are able to change."

"And if you can't…or if people don't think you can change?"

"Prove them wrong…show them that you can change…or show them that they need to change."

Rades turned to the dome, looking at the people outside of it, the civilians and Magic Knights, most likely fearful and disgusted by him.

"After this, they'll likely kill me," he told Shinji.

"Maybe they won't," Shinji responded. "If you make a deal with them, they'll likely let you live. You tell them everything you know about the Eye of the Midnight Sun, maybe they'll get why you did what you did."

"Do you really expect a bunch of nobles to even think about making a deal with me in exchange for information?"

Shinji looked at the people, his relatives, and suggested, "Then make a deal with the Wizard King. Share what you know only with him. I saw him only a few times, and the guy isn't anything like I've been hearing about most other nobles. I don't think the guy is a noble; maybe he started out as a commoner and worked his way up through the ranks to get where he is. You don't have to be a noble to have a shot at such a position that's not so much mantle as it is rank."

"How can you be so sure of such?"

"He isn't," they both looked over and saw the Guardian looking at them, having spoken. "He can't be certain of everything…which is why he believes in leaps of faith."

Rades looked at Shinji and asked, "This creature is capable of speech?"

"I'm as surprised as you are right now," he responded.

Guardian of the Void then sat down against the edge of the dome.

"Take a leap of faith, Rades Spirito," it uttered again to them. "Have faith, and if not in the Magic Knights or the Wizard King themselves, then in Shinji. Have faith in him. He may very well be the only reason you will see the next day…and the day after…and the day after."

Rades then picked up his grimoire again.

"I may never have faith in the Magic Knights again, as my history with them is bitter and full of anger that never quelled," he told them, "but you, young Ikari… I'll put my faith in you."

Then…he handed over his grimoire.

"But…that's your grimoire," Shinji responded. "I can't take it. I'm sure there's a law against it."

"Only if a grimoire is taken against the will of the owner. If it's willingly surrendered, there is no law or rule being broken. Take it."

Shinji sighed and accepted his grimoire.

"Thank you for listening to me," Rades praised him. "You're the only person that has ever wanted to hear me out."

"Talking to you…was the only thing I had in mind," Shinji explained, and then the dome began to fade away, allowing the Magic Knights to get closer to them.

-x-

"…Damn it, Shinji, that must've been the craziest thing you have done by far," Tenshi told his nephew after he was treated for his minor injuries at home. "I mean, engaging a former Magic Knight, just to talk to him? And then trapping yourself in a dome with him so you wouldn't be interrupted, that was stupid, reckless and dangerous. Not only that…you did good back there."

"What?" Yui asked as they were all in the living room. "What do you mean, he did good back there? He could've gotten killed by that guy."

"Think about how he did back there in Kikka," Tenshi explained. "The rest of us were facing artificial zombies with one-track minds, trying to find the mage controlling them, and what were we going to do once we found him? Beat him into submission? Trap him and then lock him up again? Execute him because he caused a panic? Shinji found the guy, cut down his minions, and then forced him to have a sit-down with him. He beat the guy through a conversation instead of a confrontation. None of us ever got within two feet of him."

"And Rades Spirito was moved by the fact that Shinji wanted to hear him out that he surrendered his grimoire to him," Rika reminded Yui, examining the book that contained several spells relating to the owner's magical affinity. "Not even a Magic Knight, and Shinji outdid you two when you just got started. Shinji, you were like Vishnu trying to persuade Arjuna that he should do his duty…and you impressed him by taking on your multi-armed form. You tapped into some common-but-rare magic that most overlook and underestimate."

"What sort of magic is that, Mother?" Suki asked her.

"Common sense…and reasoning," she answered her.

"Ooh… You got lucky out there, Shinji. I don't know what those Magic Knights out there are thinking, but they can't forget about this now."

Shinji chuckled lightly…and then looked down at his grimoire, opened to the spell he had used to try and impress the captains today. He had thought the Guardian of the Void had only spoken to him in his dream that one time, but then it spoke to him today, indicating that it wasn't just some spell that existed in the book…but a highly-intelligent creature that must've been converted into a spell at some point in the past and retained its independence. Then he went to the pages containing the Eva spell, reminding himself that he had made a promise never to use it; it was such a pain to him when he was piloting it…and he feared it would cause pain onto others if it was ever set loose upon the kingdom.

-x-

"…Hold on a minute," went Asuka, confused due to the layout of the pictures portraying Shinji and the others, "did Shinji defeat a guy…just by talking to them?"

"It looks like it," Kaji stated, seeing Shinji in a bubble with a guy that looked like he'd seen better days and had lived a better life.

In another picture, the guy had given Shinji a book before being taken away by some people in robes…and in another was Shinji looking in his own book at a picture of the Eva.

"It looks like everyone except his mother is praising him," went Fuyutsuki, noticing that on another page, three of the Ikari family's members seemed okay with what Shinji had done…but Yui seemed…almost disappointed in her son. _What is going on in your head, Yui?_

-x-

"…He's not talking," went Nozel to Marx as the Wizard King's adviser came to the dungeon to evaluate the situation with Rades.

"You mean, he won't talk to you or any of the other captains," Marx responded. "But he'll talk to the Wizard King after taking advice from the young man from the House of Ikari."

Nozel's face scrunched up in fury over this fact; even though it was the Magic Knights that apprehended and imprisoned Rades Spirito for the second time, his defeat was viewed as an unconditional surrender brought upon by his forced conversation with House Ikari's youngest member, who hadn't even gotten his results from the magic exam because of Rades! It was as though these Ikaris were out to spite them all at every opportunity. It was all the more reason that they didn't deserve a place among the Silver Eagles!

"Well, the Wizard King will be pleased to know that the situation was quelled before it could escalate any further like with last year," Marx continued. "He should be on his way shortly."

"He's on his way here to talk to the recaptured prisoner?" Nozel questioned.

"That's right."

"Is it really necessary for him to come here? Whatever Rades Spirito has as information may not even be beneficial."

"After seeing that magic dome and Anti-Magic creature, Julius would rather see the man who was defeated through the power of speech and understanding from a man that was willing to listen to him."

Nozel became curious; if the Wizard King was aware of what happened in Kikka, then he was aware of what went down between Rades and the Ikari boy.

"Just how much of what happened in Kikka does the Wizard King know about, exactly?" He asked the adviser.

"You could say that…he knows enough," he answered the captain of the Silver Eagles, "and he's looking forward to the resuming of the exam the day after tomorrow."

That, of course, was something Nozel wasn't looking forward to. If what happened was anything to be impressed with, there was no doubt that the other squad captains were likely to want this brat in their numbers…unless he disappointed them before in the exam. He would have to hope that this was the case and nothing to do with Rades.

"What is your opinion of the boy, Nozel Silva?" Marx questioned the captain.

"He's no better than the rest of House Ikari," he expressed his opinion, "and they're a bunch of self-righteous embarrassments with their ability to use multiple forms of magic while the rest of us have only one affinity to one type of magic."

"So then, you don't like him simply because of the house he belongs to…or you don't like him in general?"

"All of the above."

Marx, despite not being affiliated to any squad, got the impression that House Silva, or at least the three members of House Silva that were in the Silver Eagle squad, exhibited an extreme case of disgust towards anyone affiliated with House Ikari, and the worst thing of it was that they didn't even know each other. Three of House Ikari's members were survivors from an ancient past while two were from a more recent past, and none of them had any ill will towards the other noble houses for what had been committed against them back then.

"So then, I guess this rumor has been true from the beginning," he told Nozel. "Of all the houses, House Silva has the most animosity towards House Ikari."

Nozel didn't confirm this rumor…but he didn't deny it, either.

-x-

"…Where's Shinji?" Rika asked Suki as her daughter came downstairs the next morning for breakfast. "I went to his room, but he wasn't there."

"He must've gone out for a jog before either of us got up today," she suggested as she sat down at the table. "Can I ask you something about Shinji's chances of impressing the squad captains at the exam?"

"Sure."

"Say that he gets picked to join a squad, say that he gets to choose which one he wants to be a part of…what do you suppose are his chances of impressing the same number of captains that Tenshi and Yui impressed when they got picked?"

Setting the plates down and sliding over a cup of orange juice, Rika sat across the table and responded, "Considering that the captain of the Silver Eagles is a member of House Silva, and they hate our guts… I'd say that Shinji's chances of impressing the other eight captains to get a choice of which squad to choose from…are still the same as Tenshi and Yui's had been."

"He actually suggested that I join the Coral Peacock or the Blue Rose if I got more than one squad to choose from…and if he didn't get picked."

"What's your squad preference?"

"I'd like to join the same squad as him."

"Sounds like you'd rather stay close to Shinji…which would be obvious. When he was little, he took more to you than he did towards me or Tenshi."

"I'm pretty sure that had to do with the fact that I was the youngest out of the three of us back when we were elderly and not as (Suki raises her left hand to look at it)…"

"Fragile, Suki? Withered? Things Gendo wanted to make us out as to keep Shinji away from as much as possible?" Rika asked her. "You and Shinji are the only two in the family currently alive that have the same birthday. Whatever your reason for wanting to stay close to him…is your reason."

Meanwhile, outside in the village, Shinji, wanting to stay in shape and build up his appetite for breakfast, ran across the farmlands to the remains of the demon that had been defeated by the first Wizard King long ago and back to the house.

"Whew," he panted, stopping in front of the church, halfway back to the house. "What an exhilaration just now."

He then looked up at the top clover on the church's roof and pondered his chances of getting accepted into any squad that excluded the Silver Eagle and Purple Orca squads; the three Silva siblings' disgust towards his family and Rades' personal experience with a squad that feared him left Shinji viewing the squads as anything but inspiring. And the Golden Dawn, his mother and uncle's new squad…was not on his list of preferred squads, either. As much as he wanted to become a good mage, he needed to achieve it on a path that wasn't so…easy or within reach without any effort thrown in. And he couldn't be perfect, either; perfection was something that left him feeling unfulfilled and reminded of how NERV operated and stressed over.

"Nine squads, seven potential paths…and only one road to take," he sighed. "Is there even hope for me to get an opportunity to become a Magic Knight as I take a leap of faith?"

He then resumed his jog back to the house.

-x-

"…So, you're Rades Spirito," Julius Novachrono addressed the former Magic Knight as he stood in front of him.

Rades, restrained by Steel-based Restraining Magic, looked up at the man that held authority over the Magic Knights and nodded in the positive.

"I am," he answered. "Are you the Wizard King?"  
"I am," Julius responded.

"You want to know everything I know about the Eye of the Midnight Sun, don't you?"

"Yes…among other things."

"Meaning what, exactly?"

"You're capable of something called Soul Corpse Magic, something I've never seen before."

 _I guess the rumor was true after all,_ Rades thought; he heard someplace that the current Wizard King was a magic geek.

"Could you show me a sample of what you're capable of?"

"To a limited degree. I'm afraid I surrendered my grimoire to Shinji Ikari when he defeated me with a conversation."

"Ah, yes, the young lad that was deprived his results when you attacked Kikka."

"He's gifted…and exhibits simple reasoning and a desire to understand the cause of suffering rather facing the symptoms without questioning their roots. If he gets accepted into a squad, they'll be better with his presence."

"Really? Then, there's hope that he'll get accepted after this. What do you see in him?"

"A strength that surpasses that of the nobility. Is he viewed as a noble or is he a commoner despite his affiliation with such an ancient family?"

"Despite being related to a noble family, his social status is somewhere in between a noble and a commoner, even though he should be either one or the other."

"Either way, he earned my respect."

To be continued…

A/N: The first chapter to be completed on the first day of the new year. Let me know what you think of the outcome and what you think will transpire later when the next chapter comes.


	12. Results

Creation began on 01-01-19

Creation ended on 01-05-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Results

The continuation of the Magic Knight Entrance Exam in Kikka got the people's attention after it was confirmed that Rades Spirito was incarcerated again and wouldn't be getting out again. The colosseum was the place to be for the results of which attendees that had yet to get their answers from the squad captains that saw them.

"You still don't know what your squad will be, Shinji?" Suki asked her nephew as they stood by one of the pillars, out of sight of the captains.

"Still waiting for what will be the response they give," he responded. "However, there are two squads I can disregard."

"Oh? Which are they?"  
"You'll have to wait and see."

"Aw, you're stingy with squad preferences."

"No, I just like to be hopeful of getting picked."

Unfortunately, because of the minor mayhem caused by Rades, the remaining attendees' numbers were being selected at random, but Shinji would have to wait until his number was called again by the captains. This also meant that Suki would have to hope that her number wouldn't be called until after her nephew's had been.

Even if she didn't know what squad he chose, the very thought of joining a squad without him felt…just wrong if he was being overlooked.

Twenty-two different attendees had been called so far from those that had remained…and only ten had been chosen by captains of the Crimson Lions, the Green Praying Mantis and the Azure Deer squads.

-x-

"…I figured you'd be here to see the rest of the exam, Tenshi Ikari," said Klaus to the Ikari patriarch as he sat atop the colosseum, looking down at the attendees as they were getting judged by the captains, his Golden Dawn robes adorning his simple clothing comprised of black, loose-fitting trousers, a purple shirt and gray vest.

"I'd never miss such an important day for my sister and nephew," he responded, seeing another young mage get rejected by the captains. "I may never understand how people of nobility can spurn most people from lower beginnings like they're undeserving of any attempt to prove their value to the kingdom. Nothing lasts forever, not even royalty."

"I think if you had more conversations with Yuno, you two would get along well."

"Perhaps… As someone who lived in the Forsaken Region for most of his life, he had to have come from meager beginnings, but worked his way up the ranks. That alone deserves recognition."

"But…what should happen if your nephew doesn't get into a squad?"

Tenshi didn't answer for a moment, but then responded, "I'd rather focus on what is now over what could be. Nothing has been decided yet."

"And…is that why you and your youngest sister are observing this exam from opposite ends of the colosseum?" Klaus asked, reminding the rejuvenated man that his sister and fellow squad mate, Yui, was on the other side of the building, looking down at the people.

"It's complicated," he expressed.

"It relates to what was said by her son during the conversation with Rades?"

"Sort of…as Yui is… Well, despite being my little sister, she's somewhat of an unknown factor. I suppose she gets it from her father. If there were two major things wrong with him, it was his sense of morality and judgment."

"From her father? I thought she was related to your father."

"No, after we went into exile in another dimension, my mother married a man there for the sake of my sister, Suki, when she was a baby. Yui was born a few years later. I honestly don't know how much of her behavior is influenced by her father and how much is influenced by her environment."

"You believe in that nonsense people spew about nature versus nurture?"

"Sometimes, it isn't so much our environment that defines who we are…as it is who our parents or relatives are. My nephew, he has a bad father, regardless of what Yui says about him, and when I look at Shinji, I can't see any comparison between them; the guy's a complete jerk with no heart that seems to hate his son, and Shinji is a good person who wants to follow in the footsteps of relatives he trusts more than anything else."

Then after seeing another attendee get excused by the captains, Klaus looked over Yui, whom, despite her skill in the magical arts and her acceptance into the Golden Dawn, didn't seem to radiate any of the same aura of understanding that her siblings or mother did. And thinking back to the conversation between her son and Rades, there seemed to be some kind of…abominable act she had done sometime ago that went beyond her degree of negligence towards her son that hadn't been entirely forgiven.

 _I was told the Ikaris were always understanding of and accepting of people from lesser statuses, but after a long time in exile, holding onto hope in returning to the Clover Kingdom,_ he wondered, _something they didn't even anticipate might've followed them back. Some…undesirable plague they tried to avoid for a long time._

"…Number seventy-six," they heard William call the next attendee, and they saw Shinji walk over to the middle of the field in front of the captains.

Yui, curious as to how her son would fare from what happened, wonder which squad would accept him into their ranks…if any squad was interested in him.

 _Did you impress them, Shinji?_ She thought, awaiting the outcome.

-x-

Rika had offered to come see the exam's outcome this time, but Shinji and Suki declined; she didn't have to come over something that could end in excitement or disappointment. Still, that didn't stop her from wandering the streets where the effects of magic had been used, trying to get a sense of what the Magic Knights of today's generation of Clover Kingdom inhabitants had to contend with at every given opportunity.

Suddenly, her Communication Magic Tool started glowing, indicating that someone was calling her.

She answered and a visual image of Tenshi appeared in front of her.

"Tenshi, what's going on?" She asked him.

"Shinji and Suki got accepted into the Magic Knights," he revealed to her.

"Really?"

"Yes. Shinji was called first. At first, I thought he wasn't going to get picked by any of the squads because of how he dealt with Rades; none of the captains had raised their hands for a brief moment…but then most of them did."

"Most of them?"

"The Silver Eagle and Purple Orca captains didn't raise their hands; that was two squads Shinji couldn't get into, but it didn't deter him. But what surprised me with Shinji was the squad he chose."

"Oh, and which squad did he choose? I don't believe he chose the squad his mother and you joined. That would've been obvious."

"No…he actually chose…the Black Bulls."

"Eh-heh-heh, Shinji's going down the long way to the path of success earned. If he wants to make it to the top of the mountain, or somewhere in the middle, he has to begin at the base of it."

"The same must be for Suki; she chose the Black Bulls, too."

"That's quite impressive. Two of you joined the Golden Dawn and two of you joined the Black Bulls. Even though your two squads are in competition with each other and the other seven squads to prove which one is the best one each year, I trust the four of you will at least be friendly towards such a struggle to make your squads the best."

"Is there truly such a thing as a friendly competition, Mother? In the end, each squad can only do their best with however many members they have in their ranks."

Rika chuckled at such a truth, and then noticed that Yui was in the background of where Tenshi was.

"How did Yui react to Shinji's choice?" She asked him.

Tenshi's face became grim as he answered, "She was as surprised as I was. But in the end, it was his choice…and only he could make it; if anyone else had made it for him, that'd be depriving him of his right to choose."

"That's right…but tell me, though…not that it's any of my business, but…has Yui been behaving herself since the exam began?"

"That…would depend upon the interpretation of her behavior by others. I can't say for certain how her behavior is, but she impressed the captain of the Golden Dawn among other squad captains."

"Even so, I had a dream last night that, despite what has been made reality to keep her in line, leaves me concerned about the rest of you."

"A Dream Magic-influenced dream?"

"I wish it was such a dream, but it may have been influenced by Time Dream Magic. All that really made sense in the dream…was that an unfathomable degree of magic was being used for something extremely unpleasant."

Tenshi looked over at his sister and sighed; this might've been nothing, but all the more reason he chose his squad to keep an eye on her.

"It might be nothing, Mother, but I'll be keeping my eye out on Yui," he told her.

"Much appreciated, Tenshi. Be careful out there. You do yourself proud more than anyone else."

"Yes, Mother."

When the call was ended, Rika sighed at how proud she was of the four getting into the Magic Knights. While some families would've preferred all their children to be part of the same squad, Rika knew that due to the changed times, nobody could afford to be finicky because each person, regardless of their background, had their strengths and weaknesses that could only be developed further or reduced greatly through the time spent in a group that brought out their best. Although curious as to why one of her two daughters and grandson would choose the Black Bulls and the other along with her only son would side with the Golden Dawn, she had her suspicions that Shinji had a personal reason that went deeper than his desire to want to become a good mage like everyone else in his family was or had been…and while Yui was trying to achieve something of some significance after realizing that magic was more than just make-believe because they lived in a world where it was everything.

"With these four now pursuing their goals within two different squads, anything could happen," she told herself, deciding to go down to the market for whatever might've been there. _As old as they were back when we returned here, and then had their youth and mana reserves restored to their previous peak, Tenshi had yet to reach his true pinnacle…and Suki never got to find her way here. Now they can…and now Yui and Shinji can find their way here, too, wherever their paths take them._

-x-

"…The captain felt this room would be to your liking, Mr. Ikari," Klaus told Tenshi as the patriarch of House Ikari looked around the spacious quarters of the Golden Dawn headquarters.

"Thank you," he told Klaus as he set his grimoire down on a desk.

"Best of luck to you as you progress."

As Klause left, Tenshi sighed as he felt like he had just traded away simplicity for extravagancy. But he had to remind himself that this was the Golden Dawn…and their domain was like a giant palace. From the childhood stories he grew up when he was a little boy, House Ikari, like several other noble houses, once lived in a palace until they decided to leave and live among the people of lower status…which had turned out to be the best choice they ever made because the commoners from the Common and Forsaken Regions were not all that different from the people of the Noble Region, just more spread out and looking to make a living or find happiness. And as he sat down, he opened his grimoire to resume his focus of perfecting and mastering his Spatial Magic spells; sooner or later, he would have to find the way to open a portal back to the other world they were exiled to, no matter what.

Meanwhile, in her own, spacious quarters, Yui, looking out her window, gazed out at the night sky.

 _As much as I want to enjoy this view,_ she thought, thinking of Shinji, _I just can't believe he joined the one squad that people claim is the worst of the worst in the kingdom. What was it about the Black Bulls that convinced him to join them? Does it have anything to do with that grimoire he got during the ceremony? Or does he know something I don't yet?_

Sitting away from her at her desk was her grimoire, opened to a page that was in the process of forming a new spell for her magical maturity.

-x-

"…Meet our two new recruits," Yami told the others of the squad as they stood before the captain and the two newbies. "You've probably already heard of them."

"Hello…everyone," Shinji greeted the Black Bulls, bowing his head to them.

"Hi, there," Suki added in, bowing her head.

"Welcome to the Black Bulls!" Magna, Charmy, Luck and Asta greeted them.

Then, just for a brief moment, when Shinji looked at them all, he had the strangest feeling that his decision to join this squad was the right thing for him to do.

"Nice to meet a new, handsome face," Vanessa greeted Shinji, though her current attire consisted of her undergarments, which should've made Shinji feel bothered just to be in her presence.

Fortunately, because he lived with a woman that wasn't that different from this witch, Shinji had developed a resistance to female indecency.

" _If we meet this Misato Katsuragi when we return to Tokyo-3,"_ went Tenshi when Shinji told them of Misato's indecency after he started living at her apartment when he arrived at Tokyo-3, _"I should have a word with her about her habits. It feels like you're the one taking care of her when she's supposed to be the guardian."_

"The kid that defeated Rades Spirito just by talking to him," went Noelle as she walked over to Shinji and Suki. "And the aunt that was rejuvenated and restored of her youth and mana reserves when she returned to the Clover Kingdom from a lifetime in exile. I guess you two aren't that bad."

If it weren't for her hair color, Shinji would've mistaken Noelle for Asuka because they both shared the same attitude of superiority.

"Nice to meet you, too," he responded.

-x-

"…Does anyone see a resemblance here in this picture?" Kaji asked the others in Gendo's office, pointing to the photo that depicted Shinji and Suki with a different squad than the one Yui and Tenshi joined. "It looks like Shinji and his aunt joined a gang of misfits."

Misato looked at the group Shinji was now part of…and got the strangest feeling that she was looking at a warped mirror of some people here. If it weren't for the varying degrees of age and appearance in these people, she could've mistaken them for some of the people Shinji knew since arriving to NERV.

"Familiarity," went Rei, looking down at the photo.

"What are you talking about, First Child?" Asuka questioned.

"Ikari-Kun chose a group of people that reminded him of some of the people here," the albino girl explained. "The indecent-dressed woman, the girl with the white hair, the little woman holding the cupcake, even the man with the glasses, they each remind Ikari-Kun of someone from this world."

Even Kaji could see some comparisons to the handful of people Shinji knew that seemed to be mirrored in this group he chose; the woman clad in nothing but her lingerie was a clear echo of Misato while the girl with the white hair had a comparison to Asuka.

But Gendo, on the other hand, couldn't see anyone from this world that was being echoed by the people wherever his son was that convinced him to join them. In his mind, none of these…outcasts of society exhibited any measure of a resemblance to anyone here. If anything, the boy only joined them to keep from joining the same group his mother joined.

"Hey, their names are written on the next page!" Asuka revealed, pointing to a list of names belonging to this Black Bull squad. "Of all the… The girl that seems to look down upon that idiot is called Noelle Silva. Not a bad name for someone like her."

"The guy with the glasses is called Magna Swing," Kaji read, "and this guy who appears to be older than the majority of them is Finral Roulacase."

"Sounds like you, Kaji," Misato stated.

"Oh, really, Katsuragi," he retorted, "then why does this Vanessa Enoteca seem to mirror your habits?"

Misato shoved him away from the desk when the very thought of her being compared to this woman that walked around in her underwear ran through her mind.

"The Black Bulls," went Ritsuko, examining the photos in the album that depicted the group and their location. "It looks like out of these nine squads, they're the black sheep of these Magic Knights, the worst of the worst kept in existence out of pity."

"Shinji couldn't have picked them simply because of some familiarity or because other people viewed them as a bunch of troublemakers," Kaji expressed his opinion. "There's gotta be more to the reason he chose to join a group like this."

Rei turned to the next page and saw Shinji going up against a…blade of fire.

-x-

This was the Black Bull Initiation Ceremony. Although they had chosen to join the squad, Shinji and Suki would have to earn their Black Bull robes by defeating their senior squad mates. After losing a coin toss, Shinji was up first against Magna Swing, the resident Black Bull that used Fire Magic.

"How exactly does this work?" Shinji asked him as they stood out in front of the Black Bulls' hideout.

"You have to either block my attack or evade it," Magna explained, taking out his grimoire and activating a spell. "If you can, that is."

Shinji took out his grimoire and pulled out his sword, surprising Asta with how similar it behaved to his own. There wasn't even any uttering of a spell; he just opened the book and pulled it out. This…was his Anti Sword Magic spell: Katana of the Void. If anyone that was still studying Anti Magic could've figured, this sword probably functioned in ways similar to Asta's Demon-Slayer Sword or Demon-Dweller Sword.

"This is déjà vu all over again," Magna expressed. "Time to change things up a little bit. Fire Creation Magic: Wildfire Sword!"

Forming in his hands was a large sword of fire.

"The sword," Shinji uttered, "both an ancient…and amazing tool. You know what I admire the most about it?"

"Enlighten me."

"Despite it being such an old weapon, it's still in use today."

Magna then swung his sword, releasing two waves of fire at Shinji, before charging towards him.

"Whoa!" Shinji gasped, and then swung his sword at the two waves of flame, extinguishing them. _No time to evade!_

So instead of dodging, Shinji swung his sword again…and caused Magna's sword to extinguish out of his hands, causing him to fall onto the ground.

"Ow…" Magna groaned as he got back up. "Not bad…for a newbie. Welcome to the Black Bulls, Shinji Ikari."

"Glad to be with the Black Bulls," he responded, and was then handed a small, black garment that was the coveted robe that designated its wearer as a member of the Black Bull squad.

"But I think someone else should face your aunt; you knocked the mana out of me."

Suki's face scrunched up as though Magna was trying to avoid facing a girl. She wasn't sure if he was truly tired by facing Shinji or if this was a gender issue, but she wasn't going to let him walk away without the truth.

"He'd better not be trying to avoid facing me," she uttered. _I spent months trying to tap into my magic to not be able to prove myself to others that I'm not just some elder that got her youth back and was reduced to another pretty face._

"I trust that you're actually weakened and not trying to refrain from facing Suki," said Shinji to Magna. "I've seen her face a mage during the exam, and she was…surprisingly impressive."

"Is that some sort of code for you thinking I was subtle?"

"Nope. You summoned a stuffed bear! There was nothing subtle about it."

"A stuffed bear? That sounds very subtle," Noelle expressed her opinion.

"Imagine a stuffed bear that's as big as a tree…with razor claws…made from Cotton and Thread Magic," Shinji informed her.

"Made from Cotton and Thread Magic?!" Charmy and Vanessa gasped. "Really?!"

Suki then took out her grimoire and summoned the aforementioned spell, revealing her bear to them.

"Gaah!" Asta gasped. "Incredible!"

The bear looked as though it were about to give off a menacing roar…only for it to sound more like a small squeak, making it sound anything but threatening.

"It's meant to be menacing," Suki explained, "not sound menacing."

Thud! Magna fell backwards, his eyes looking dazed; it was likely that he was in shock over how such a being of Creation Magic could exist due to two different forms of magic being combined.

"I suppose you could face Luck," Yami suggested, which put a smile on the boy's face.

"Okay," Suki accepted.

-x-

"…I guess Suki earned her right to be in the group just like Shinji," Misato stated, seeing a picture of Suki looking down at a young boy with electricity surging around his arms.

"Gott im Himmel," went Asuka, seeing another picture of Suki with a giant, stuffed bear with large claws. "It looks like they can do anything they want with magic over there."

Fuyutsuki turned to the next page and saw Shinji lying in a bed inside a small room, looking up at a window that appeared to be shining moonlight on his face as he laid there in thought.

"I wonder what he's thinking about in this picture right now," he uttered.

Asuka and Rei were wondering the same thing.

Whatever he was thinking about, it had to be something that kept him from sleeping.

-x-

It was his first night away from home…and his first time realizing that he had ceased being an Evangelion pilot and a pawn in some sick game by his parents when he became a Magic Knight. While a lot to take in, it was a strange sense of elation on his soul; he had finally escaped an unwanted part of his past and carved his first step onto a path that led him down a future that was his to choose. He had finally gotten his clean slate that freed him from the Eva, from fighting Angels, from end-of-the-world insanity that he no longer needed to concern himself with while he was here in the Clover Kingdom. And the weirdest part of it all…was that he had nobody to talk to about it right now.

"Shinji?" He heard Suki's voice, and he turned to the door of his room, seeing his teen aunt standing there, dressed in a blue nightie.

"How'd you get in?" He asked her.

"The trap spells only seem to work when it's keeping the men from going into the women's quarters," she explained, looking around his room. "Mine's got more cobwebs than you do."

"What brings you over here at this time of night?"

"I needed someone I know to talk to, so…I came to see you."

Shinji sighed as he got up into a sitting position on his bed so that Suki had his full attention.

"I never thought I'd be glad to get away from a part of my past that was messed up," he confessed to her. "I'm free of the Eva, of preventing a catastrophe…or rather, insuring a catastrophe. And yet…for the first time in a long time since I got here…I'm completely unsure of what's going to happen now."

"Nobody's allowed to know the unwritten future…unless it's to prevent something terrible from happening. Honestly, I'm glad I'm a Magic Knight now. I get to do something more with my life than what I did the first time around. And…I'm glad we joined the same squad; I don't think I'd feel at ease with any other group if you weren't in it. But…if it's alright if I ask…what drew you to this one? I can't understand your reason."

"I can't, for the heart of me, answer why. I just know that in my heart, this squad was the best choice for me. I'm at the bottom of the mountain…and I want to earn my way to the top."

They weren't all that different regarding their motives for being Magic Knights; they both wanted to be more than what they were once upon a time, to deserve their place within the Magic Knights…and maybe prove they were more than what their family had been in the past.

"Just promise me one thing, Shinji," she spoke up.

"Which is?" He responded.

"Don't try to take on something larger than yourself without aid."

"Heh…wouldn't dream of it."

They both turned to look out the window and felt a degree of calmness from staring at the full moon.

To be continued…

A/N: Well, we finally got the full results of the Magic Knight Entrance Exam: Tenshi and Yui Ikari have joined the Golden Dawn squad, and Suki and Shinji have joined the Black Bull squad. While this mirrors Yuno and Asta's positions, the difference between them is that the four are blood…but their sense of right and wrong are thicker than their blood ties. Also, I wanted the end of this chapter to evoke a sense of Harry Potter when Shinji and Suki look out at the night. Now, I suppose the next question should be the least oblivious one: How many of you think Shinji should have a higher rank than his fellow squad mates because he defeated Rades…and how many of you think his presence within the Black Bulls should result in select members getting an increase in their magic?


	13. Threatened

Creation began on 01-05-19

Creation ended on 01-09-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Threatened

Licht was now something he hadn't been in quite some time after hearing that the lost House of Ikari had returned to the Clover Kingdom: He felt worried…and that he had good reason to be, too. For the brief time since he heard from one of his contacts from within the kingdom that four of the five remaining members of this ancient and powerful family had joined the Magic Knights, he was concerned with the fact that the youngest member had joined the Black Bull squad along with the eldest of the two daughters…and part of his acceptance was due to the fact that he had spoken to Rades Spirito, who surrendered to the Magic Knights after their conversation…and even surrendered his grimoire to the boy after hearing his honesty over how incredibly powerful he seemed to have been initially capable of such magic magic with only a single spell and that he should go after the Magic Knights that exiled him through more appropriate methods rather than attack the kingdom's people. It made Licht want to question whether Rades was somehow manipulated by some form of magic he knew nothing of…or if Rades had betrayed the Eye of the Midnight Sun because of the boy talking to him.

Even as he looked at another picture of Shinji, Licht couldn't help but feel…threatened by him, and neither one knew the other existed yet; there had been no indication that Rades had told the boy about him at all. But even if the boy didn't know anything about him, Licht believed Shinji would become an unexpected inconvenience if he were allowed to…advance.

" _The Wizard King was so impressed that he gave the boy the rank of First Class Junior Magic Knight right after he chose his squad,"_ his contact informed him, which made the leader of the rogue mages wonder if such a decision was a fluke or if this boy was something else altogether.

"Sally," he spoke to the female mage behind as he held up two pictures in front of her, "out of the two young men in these pictures, which one do you suspect to be the more dangerous of the two if we encountered them?"

Sally, the group's Gel Magic rogue mage, examined the two boys in the photos, Asta and Shinji Ikari, and found herself pointing to Shinji's photo.

"While both are interesting as specimens," she confessed to him, "the Ikari boy appears to be the more powerful of the two. With the revelation that Anti Magic serves as a negative to the positive of all other forms of magic, someone that can use all forms of magic is a greater threat to the Eye of the Midnight Sun…which, in turn, makes him and the rest of his family remarkable as specimens. Maybe even more so than the Anti Magic boy I've been hearing about."

This, however, made Licht more disturbed by the mere possibility that this Shinji Ikari would pose a threat to his goal if he were to become too strong to face at a later time, which meant that it was best to deal with him while he were still at that stage in his development where he was still coming into his magical potential. A pity, though, for he admired these Ikaris for their Infinity Affinity…and believed they were of such a high standing that they were loved by the mana of the world just as much as he and his people were; he believed that anyone that could wield multiple forms of magic and combine them in ways that weren't possible for others unless they had others to aid them and were cherished immensely by the mana.

"Then I'm making it your responsibility to remedy the situation regarding the boy and his aunt in the Black Bulls," he told her. "Take the Third Eye with you, if necessary. Whatever happens, make sure the boy can't become a threat to our goal."

"Understood," Sally responded, and then left to get the Third Eye before planning her move against the Black Bulls in order to remove the potential threat that was Shinji Ikari…while at the same time ensnaring Asta as a bonus.

-x-

"…Just because he talked to that lowly commoner that the Purple Orcas disposed of three years ago, the Wizard King gives that Ikari brat the ranking of First Class Junior Knight," Nebra uttered as she and Solid were angry over the decision to let Shinji join the Magic Knights and sharing this venting of emotions with Nozel. "Any one of us could've spoken to that outcast and gotten a rank increase in the process!"

"Except that we were just trying to apprehend him, not talk to him," Nozel told her as he sat in his room. "However, with the four of them relocated to two different squads, we may have an unexpected edge against House Ikari."

"Oh, really?" Solid questioned his big brother. "What would that be?"

"With her children and grandchild away, who do you it is that are keeping Rika Ikari company at that cozy house they rebuilt in the Forsaken Region?" Nozel informed his siblings, and all three got the same idea. "They're such an enclosed family due to what happened over fifteen-hundred years ago. Who's to say that their matriarch isn't likely to have…an unexpected accident while left alone? Accidents can happen…and most often will."

"If anyone were to ever suspect foul play," Nebra stated, but Nozel calmed her.

"Accidents can and will often happen," he reiterated, making it clear that nobody would suspect people of paying the eldest of the Ikaris an unsanctioned visit. "We're not the only ones that hated them for who they were."

"Anyone could be suspected of making a move against them at a point of vulnerability," Solid added; there had to be other houses and people that had a vendetta against House Ikari to the point that they were willing to bide their time until opportunity presented itself.

"We have to make sure we're not seen," Nebra reminded her brothers. "That old witch won't know who wanted her gone until after she's rejoined her ancestors."

-x-

She must've been the one responsible for Shinji's former bathing habit of not being able to relax during a soak in the tub; Rika, like her grandson, had some bad memories that snuck into the bath with her, reminding her that some events, places and people weren't at rest, even when they were at rest. It was after midnight, and she was unable to find any further reason to stay in the tub, in which the water had since gone lukewarm.

"I guess I can just curl up with a book until I fall asleep," she suggested to herself as she climbed out of the tub.

She picked up her grimoire that she laid atop a nearby stool in case she needed it and wrapped a towel around herself before vacating the bathroom.

"I wonder how those kids are doing in their squads, though," she wondered as she walked down the hall to her room.

-x-

"…Heh, looks like a small palace for the family that chose these outcasts over the nobility," said Nebra, disguised as a ghostly mist-monster as she, Solid and Nozel looked over at the home of House Ikari in Hage. "So simple, so plain, so dull. How can anyone consider living in a shack like that?"

"People that think less is better, perhaps," suggested Solid, disguised as a water-monster with tentacles. "How pathetic… There is no way that any real nobles would settle for less. More is always desired."

Even Nozel, disguised as a mercury-monster with drill-like arms and elegant fangs, was embarrassed just to look at this house.

"They're going to wish they had stayed away from the Clover Kingdom," he expressed. "Let's rid ourselves of at least one of these disgraces while leaving a reminder that their presence here is unwanted."

And with that, they made their way towards the house with the aim to leave it as ruins.

To be continued…

A/N: Sorry to leave you at a cliffhanger, but I gotta save my best for later. Also, I gotta watch the last of the _Godzilla_ anime trilogy, hoping that it explains more than what it didn't on the Internet, so I'll likely be stonewalled for the whole day just to get to it. As a question, how many of you think that there should be a small talent show on here due to these talent shows we see on TV?


	14. Attack of the Third Eye

Creation began on 01-09-19

Creation ended on 01-29-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Attack of the Third Eye

Sunlight shown through the window of Shinji's room as said boy awoke to his first day as a member of the Black Bulls. Dressing in blue jeans and a loose-fitting, green shirt under his robe, the newbie vacated his room and stood out in the hallway that he could've sworn didn't look the way it did last night.

"Good morning there, Shinji," he turned to his left and saw Asta walking towards him. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, I… Were those two pillars there yesterday?" He asked Asta.

"Nope, but that's okay. I'm told this place rearranges itself all the time. It's a habit."

"An old building that can rearrange itself out of habit? Whoa, that's…some kind of magic."

"Yeah, it is. Come on, I'll show you around; you and your aunt didn't get the tour last night when you came."

But before Shinji followed Asta down a different hallway, he looked down another that led into darkness, his expression blank and like he wasn't aware of anything or anyone else.

Asta noticed this and waved his left hand in front of him.

"Shinji?" He asked him.

"Huh?" Shinji reacted, looking at the Anti Magic mage. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You were looking down that hall."

"I'm sorry, I… I thought I was… For a moment, it felt like I was being drawn toward something down there, like I was slipping or something. Has that ever happened to you or anyone else in the squad before?"

"Not that I know of," Asta responded. "Come on, it's probably excitement."

Shinji followed him and he showed him the public bath, the dining hall and kitchen (where Charmy currently was eating), and caged chamber full of shadowed beasts that the newbies have to feed each week; the building's quarters for women were protected by various trap spells to keep men from invading their privacy.

"Though, the traps don't seem to keep the women from paying any of us a visit," Shinji stated.

"Huh?" Asta responded, confused.

"The trap spells only keep the men out of the women's quarters, not the other way around," Shinji explained. "If one wants to see you, they just go right ahead, unrestricted."

"Oh. I don't get why that is so, though."

"Some people believe that this is because women are moral and less likely to do something they know they shouldn't."

"So, men are inherently bad?"

"No, just difficult to trust; if you get invited into a woman's personal space, they want to be able to trust you, to believe that you are reliable and not someone they could later fear."

"Where'd you learn this from, anyway?"

"My aunt, Suki, when she was… Well, when she was taller."

Shinji couldn't say when his aunt was older now because it felt wrong, even though it was true in every sense that excluded her physicality. Not to mention that he expected some difficulty with her because they were, more or less, the same age, physically. Despite her rejuvenation, her intellect remained the same, and sometimes, he had to wonder if the restoration of her youth and vitality gave a sense of vanity.

Sitting in the dining hall with his grimoire opened to reexamine some pages, Shinji stopped on the page with Guardian of the Void again. This time, it seemed as though the creature were staring at him in its picture.

"Is that really it?" A female voice uttered behind him, and Shinji turned his head around to see Noelle looking over his shoulder at the page. "The spell used to summon the Guardian of the Void? That's it?"

"Uh, yes," he answered her. "I summoned him during the entrance exam against my uncle."

"A creature of Anti Magic, capable of negating other forms of magic…and that such a form of magic exists… I thought Asta was the only one that could use Anti Magic."

"His form of Anti Magic is still limited to his use of the sword, though, meaning he needs to get close to magic to actually negate it. But is he getting better?"

"Ever since last year when Rades attacked the Royal Capital, things have been quiet; we haven't had any missions to carry out, even with your family's return."

Shinji turned to a different page in his grimoire and read the spell being something he didn't recognize before.

"' _Water Creation Magic: Umi's Noble Tempest'_ ," he read the spell.

Noelle looked at the page and felt the impression that it was a powerful Water Magic spell.

"Just how powerful are you?" She asked him.

"I'm not sure. I'm not looking to boast or anything. What about you? You must be pretty powerful, Ms. Silva."

"Oh, I'm quite powerful. My family has been among the ruling body of the Clover Kingdom for a long time."

"So I've heard."

"What about your family? You must be versed in your history, the mages that were capable of a wide range of spells and everything."

"Not entirely. Like I said, I'm not looking to boast or anything. Pride can be a bad thing if taken too extremely."

"That's only true if you put yourself above others, Shinji," they both heard Suki's voice as she showed up in the dining hall, carrying a large tray of food with her. "But you don't put yourself above others at all. You're humble, which makes you unlikely to give into peer pressure or feel a sense of superiority over others."

"Good morning to you, too, Suki," Shinji greeted her as she sat across the table from them with the tray, noticing the breakfast food's varying degrees of preparation. "Uh…did you just make all of that, Suki?"

"Yeah," she answered him. "Why else would I be in the kitchen for less than an hour? Though, Charmy found it ridiculous for anyone to cook using non-magic means."

"That's because for her, it is ridiculous," Noelle expressed. "I've only known her for a year, and her Cotton Magic revolves around food. Her Sheep Cooks are the chefs here. How can anyone survive without using magic to cook?"

Shinji and Suki looked at her like she had no idea that she was in front of two people that did exactly as she questioned without the need for magic…and have done so for a long time.

"You cook for yourself and others for a long time that you find a taste for it," Shinji explained.

Suddenly, the previous page in his grimoire flipped back into view and glowed, allowing them to see the Guardian of the Void emerge from the book in front of them.

"Why'd you summon it again, Shinji?" Suki asked her nephew.

"I didn't summon him," he responded.

-x-

"…I'm not sure what's worse than everything else today," went Rika to her three uninvited guests as they were incapacitated around the front yard of her home, "the fact that you three were out here all night in the cold…or that you three are from the same house and squad and decided to pay me an unexpected visit that feels like a minor reminder of what happened over fifteen-hundred years ago. Maybe you should tell me what you think. What do you think?"

Nozel, Nebra and Solid Silva were restrained, suspended or partially buried in the ground in front of Rika, each with a look of scorn reserved for her out of spite towards her family. They didn't expect for the yard, garden, not even the house itself to be cluttered with hidden trap spells designed to neutralize a potential threat before it could even escalate.

"You are nothing more than a despicable person, lady. You're no better than our black sheep sister, and she was good as banished from House Silva." Nebra expressed.

"So, there are four of you…and yet only three of you came here? I guess what I've been researching about you has been accurate so far. But you know something I don't really get? I don't get any of you. You don't like my family, and I can understand that, but you don't even know any of us. We don't even know any of you. There's usually a grudge or vendetta, but unless it's fueled by two or more sides that don't get along, it's not necessary for anyone to maintain it. So, what exactly did my family do to your family, and by 'your family', I mean your immediate family, those that live with you, not your ancestors that I might've known to a degree back then. What did we ever do to you?"

"You live and breathe," uttered Solid to her. "That's the only wrong your family has ever done worse than anyone else…and associating with the inferior like they're of any significance. Ever since I can remember, House Ikari has been the bane of the nobility because of its tolerance towards the inferior and the family's own disrespect towards House Silva."

"My family disrespected your family? In what way was that disrespect given? If you're referring to my son's ceremonial battle ritual, it's hardly disrespect because it was using old customs."

"Serena Silva," Nozel expressed, causing Rika's eyes to widen. "She was banished because of your family. Worse than banished, she was driven away because of her association with you. A member of House Silva that can't control their magic has no right to bear the Silva name."

"Serena Silva…was one of my best friends," Rika sighed. "It was your family that refused to teach her how to control her magic, so mine taught her all that we knew until she obtained mastery. When your ancestors learned of this, they rejected and disowned her. I've spent a great deal of my time wondering if she ever lived to see old age since that night my family was attacked. Did her family survive up to the present? These are among many questions I've had ever since being reintroduced to the present-day kingdom. How do you obtain such answers to questions when there are some people that either don't know…or have unexplained or unnecessary spite towards you? Can you answer?"

Nozel stayed quiet; even if he knew the fate of this disgraced ancestor of House Silva, he wouldn't tell this woman, this…Ikari.

"It's okay, I don't expect any of you to answer," Rika stated, taking out her grimoire. "At least not of your own volition, and I won't stoop as low as to try and poke at your memories. So I'll be returning you to your Noble Realm, but to ensure that you or anyone else doesn't try an encore attempt on my family home…or my family, we should make sure that this little foul play goes on record…for the sake of posterity."

All three Silver Eagles looked at one another in realization that when she said that, she clearly meant to ensure that their failed attempt on her life was on record for everyone to know.

"You can't possibly be serious about this," Solid said to her. "Can't you take a joke?"

Rika looked at the young man with a look of contempt on her face as she responded, "You'll forgive me if my sense of humor died a little over fifteen-hundred years ago when the majority of my loved ones died around me the day one of my daughters took their first breath of life. That was supposed to be a day of celebration, joy and remembrance…and it became a day of tragedy, loss and grief. Not many people can take a joke when something hurtful, major or minor, hits a little too close to home. If you understood some personal suffering, you probably wouldn't take a joke, either."

"Oh, we would, ma'am," Nebra told her. "Our black sheep of a little sister killed our mother. It was for this, she was banished from House Silva."

"A girl of sixteen years…murdered your mother, you say? That sounds unlikely, since I've been looking at the number of mages in the Magic Knights that are measured by their magical levels, and she's listed among those as being unlikely to be capable of sufficiently harming anyone. How could she cause life-threatening harm to the one that brought her into existence?"

"By doing just what you said," Nozel explained, and Rika's look of contempt deepened.

"Union Sealing Magic: Parental Guidance," she uttered a spell from her grimoire, and light shot out of it at the three siblings.

-x-

"This is Guardian of the Void?!" Asta gasped as he and the other members of the Black Bulls present saw the creature sitting in the middle of the common room, looking as though it were asleep. "Awesome!"

"Can I fight it?" Luck asked Shinji, who seemed puzzled by its sense of free will and ability to self-summon itself from his grimoire.

"It looks like it's sleeping," Finral pointed out, as he barely heard any sounds from it as it sat by the fireplace.

Magna placed a hand on the creature's right shoulder…and soon felt slightly weakened.

"Whoa," he went, pulling his arm away before falling backwards into a chair. "I think it just absorbed some of my magic when I touched it."

Suki then placed her left arm on the creature's head.

"He's not asleep," she revealed.

"Not asleep?" Gordon questioned, and the Guardian of the Void opened its eyes, looking at the Black Bull members present. "Not asleep."

Suki pulled her hand away and wondered what it was up to.

Suddenly, a strange, humming sound could be heard and it felt like the flooring where the creature squatted was vibrating.

"Guardian's…humming?" Noelle asked.

"No," Shinji revealed, looking through his grimoire on the page detailing the creature. "Guardian's thinking. He's actually thinking like an actual creature."

"Thinking about what?" Vanessa asked.

"About you," he explained. "Thinking about all of you, actually; he's doing something called 'historical observation', going over your individual histories as Magic Knights, measuring your magic levels and the number of spells you've accumulated since you joined. That's…creepy."

"He's missing a third sword," Guardian spoke up, raising its right claw and pointing to Asta. "He will need it to be at his strongest one day."

"I have a third sword?!" Asta gasped, and then the creature stood up, looking at Finral.

"Your doubt in your abilities reduces your success," he told him.

"What?"

Looking at Luck, the Guardian expressed, "I got my eye on you."

Grey, disguised as Vanessa, was then looked upon by Guardian, who then bowed his head to her.

"You needn't hide yourself from the world," it told her. "How are you to be remembered if nobody knows your true face?"

Then she changed back into herself in front of them.

Charmy had her grimoire out in case the Guardian tried something with her.

It looked down at her and tilted its head to the side.

"Size is never an issue," it spoke, "and no, I am not edible."

Charmy went wide-eyed. Did this creature just read her mind?

"You," it spoke, pointing to Gordon, who was farthest away from them, "you mean well and you want to help your squad, but you should really raise your voice. Even if I can understand what you say, your teammates won't be able to unless they have heightened hearing."

Everyone looked at Gordon, who lowered his head and mumbled something.

"You seem to state the obvious a little too personally, Guardian," Suki told the creature, "even if you do mean well."

It lowered its head to meet her gaze, causing her to back away a little.

"Things will get interesting later today as magic that doesn't belong to this squad makes itself known," it told her. "What happens next will be up to your squad."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean later today?" Noelle questioned. "Do you know something?"

"Out there," it pointed away from them to the front door, "magic gathers and intensifies. Will you rise…or will you fall?"

Shinji closed his grimoire and approached the beast.

"Are you saying that…someone is coming here…and they intend to pick a fight?" He asked.

"Your assumption…is as expected," it responded. "Only your best will prevail."

"Can you see the future?" Noelle asked.

"Not the future, only possibility."

"You can only see possibility?" Vanessa questioned.

Guardian looked at her…and his tail just swayed around behind him.

"People that make possible the impossible…and the impossible…impossible again," he told her.

-x-

"Missus Ikari," went the Wizard King to Rika as she walked into his office. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your unexpected visit this afternoon?"

"Last night, I received an unexpected…and unwanted visit from three of our kingdom's Magic Knights," she explained to him.

"Was there a problem?"

"I'm afraid there was…and it is still a problem."

Rika then reached into her small bag and pulled out three glass balls, each containing a Magic Knight, and presented them to the Wizard King.

Julius was surprised to see that they were all affiliated with the Silver Eagles, and they each looked as though they were frozen.

"What sort of magic did you use on them?" He asked her.

"Sealing Magic," she answers him, "which uses a combination of Glass and Thread Magic."

"Ah, Union Sealing Magic. Incredible…but… Why did they pay you an unsanctioned visit, if I may ask?"

"As it just so happens… It seems that certain members of House Silva prefer to nurse an age-old hatred against House Ikari that is one-sided and pointless. And these three felt threatened by my family to the point where they decided to come to my house at night to cause an accident. I was fortunate to have laid out a wide range of different trap spells on and around the property that respond to intentional threats against me or my family. I need this to go down on record; it's one thing to attack a family for petty reasons, such as for money or jewels, but to attack a family because of an age-old grudge that I don't even blame the descendants of the people that were responsible for what happened over fifteen-hundred years, that's crossing an unnecessary line that releases too much contempt over the heart and soul, too much anger that turns a civil society into an uncivil abomination that needs to be cleansed."

Julius sighed as he nodded in agreement with her, and accepted the tiny glass spheres.

"I apologize for their actions against you," he told her. "Is there any other way I may be of service to you while you're here?"

"Yes, sir, there is. While I'm here in the Royal Capital for the time being…I guess I should see the ancestral grounds where House Ikari once resided before relocating to the Forsaken Region."

"Oh, my, yes, ma'am," he accepted; he had never been to the ancestral grounds of House Ikari's former residence, but because of the long line of the Clover Kingdom's monarchy, these grounds were considered sacred as the family itself was of royalty just as House Silva was.

Within their glass spheres, the Silva siblings couldn't believe how much trouble they were bound to be in, and all because they didn't anticipate such a degree of trouble from the oldest of the Ikari family that was the very reason three of them got their youth back and how one of them was set free from a giant being that their magic didn't work on.

-x-

"…So your Guardian of the Void states that our squad will be visited upon today?" Yami asked Shinji after he was informed by Finral, making sure he understood correctly.

"That's what he said, sir," Shinji answered him. "Except that he said that he couldn't see the future, only possibilities."

"What's the difference?"

"If he could see into the future, then he knew what was going to happen before it happens and give us a more-detailed warning," went Suki. "As for seeing possibilities, it's like…probability. Some sort of…series of patterns that are often always unforeseen and full of uncertainty. You see pebbles falling from mountains, rivers pooling into waterfalls, and trees gathering into forests. But you're the one that has to decide which way to go, and the map you use to guide your way is only showing many routes of which to take to get to your destination, whatever and wherever it is that you're going."

As they were all outside, the squad had no idea where and when this unseen force of magic would appear, but had to be on their guard, knowing only that they would be seen today.

"And do you believe this Guardian of the Void?" Yami asked.

"I do, sir," Shinji answered him. "He has no reason to lie to me."

Shinji suddenly felt a presence in the air that made his heart beat uneasy, like someone was watching them from afar. And it felt…threatening.

Guardian of the Void appeared behind him and pointed away from the Black Bull base.

"They are here," he uttered, and Yami found it strange that this creature was several inches taller than he was.

A portal appeared in the air above them, releasing a handful of people that were dressed in white cloaks with strange, eye-like symbols on them. One of them, a young, bespectacled woman, had hers opened up, revealing a baggy, maroon-colored top, miniskirt and black boots, and was exposing a lot of skin.

Somehow, in Shinji's mind, the woman reminded him of this boyish-looking woman that worked with Ritsuko Akagi, Maya Ibuki…if she were a bit untamed and exhibiting a wild side to her personality, but that just made him wonder who this woman was and why she was here.

-x-

"You called me here to look at this photo album that's doing more than housing a few old pictures that depict this family from their younger years?" Ritsuko questioned everyone in Gendo's office, looking at the album that currently depicted Shinji facing a young woman that bore a strange resemblance to Maya Ibuki, only a little crazy from the looks of it. "What, exactly, is going on here?"

"Because of the Twelfth Angel, Shinji and his maternal relatives have wound up in a place, another dimension, where, apparently, people use magic more than they use science," Misato explained to her, "and beyond that, it would seem that, with the exception of Shinji and his mother, the other three members of the Ikari family…and were from this place."

"That's insane. If they were from another universe, why'd they wait until the last Angel attack to go back? And why take Shinji with them?"

"We don't think their leaving due to the Twelfth Angel was of their volition," Fuyutsuki told her. "When the Angel disappeared, it just took them."

"And when they returned to this other universe," Asuka added, "this…Clover Kingdom, the elderly relatives of the idiot, his grandmother, aunt and uncle, used magic to make themselves young again."

"We don't think it was possible for them to get back there, even if they wanted to," Kaji explained. "If there were rules or limitations to how they could get back to the kingdom, assuming that magic even has any, then these three, Rika, Tenshi and Suki Ikari, were bound by them. Maybe they needed a source of energy potent enough to get back or maybe they were past their prime to use their magic the way they wanted without leaving themselves more vulnerable, anything that could deteriorate them."

"But…if they're in another dimension…how do we know they can get back to this one?"

"Right now, they don't seem focused on getting back," Misato informed. "Shinji, his mother, aunt and uncle have joined these…magical squads that protect the kingdom they're in and answer to this person addressed as the Wizard King."

"So, he's like a cop, an enforcer?" Ritsuko questioned.

"No," Rei answered her. "He is a knight, a warrior, someone duty-bound to protect the kingdom against those that would harm the people living in it."

Ritsuko then looked at the next page that Gendo turned to, and saw what looked like the woman that resembled Maya…trying to attack Shinji with a giant syringe.

"What the Hell?" She questioned, and it almost felt like, for a brief moment, she was actually there with Shinji, and watched him moved out of the way of the needle, seeing the woman smile as she failed to hit him.

-x-

Sally, once she saw Shinji in person, went into a berserker frenzy towards him with her syringe, trying to stick him with the needle in order to see what could happen if she was able reinforce his magic at the cost of his life. But she intended to save as much of his body as possible for research later; as much as she desired to study him, she was confident that she didn't need him alive. She was certain that she didn't even need Asta alive, either.

"Aw, hold still," she told Shinji, trying to jab him with the needle again, but he kept dodging. "I won't hurt what's left of you when you die."

"Lady, I don't even know you, and I already don't like you," Shinji responded as his grimoire opened to give him his sword. "Wait a minute…that symbol… You're members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, aren't you?"

"Oh, you're very perceptive. I'm guessing Rades told you a lot about us, didn't he? Everything he knew, that is. To think he was defeated by you…and all you did was talk to him. Then, the Wizard King, impressed by your ability to defeat a mage that could summon his own army…that instead of being a Fifth Class Junior Magic Knight upon being accepted, gives you the rank of First Class Junior Magic Knight. I wonder, if you can defeat us like you did with Rades, you think the Wizard King will make you a First Class Intermediate Magic Knight?"

"Why the interest in the kingdom's ranking system? I didn't even know about my current rank until you mentioned it just now. And why are you here?"

"Well, isn't it obvious? You've been deemed a threat to the plans of the Eye of the Midnight Sun…and our orders are to ensure that you cease to be a threat. All three of you, actually: Asta, your young aunt…and yourself."

Shinji looked over at Asta and Suki, who unleashed their grimoires' magic like the rest of the Black Bulls…and had to suspect that someone in charge of these rogue mages didn't want to be concerned with these three among any that could be seen as potential threats to their plans, and tasked this woman with making sure of that.

"Wait a minute, you see us three as a threat?" Suki asked her, confused as she had summoned her bear. "How are we viewed as a threat, exactly? Some of us are still of low ranking and haven't been Magic Knights for long. My nephew and I, we just got started today. If you want an actual threat, you should try facing tough-as-nails veterans that have been doing this for decades, they got the experience to outdo you."

"Except none of them can use Anti Magic…or have the Infinity Affinity, such as you three do, which makes you a greater danger if left unchecked. I'm sorry to say, but you three must be dealt with before you become too strong to take on directly."

Noelle, hearing this like the rest of the squad, found it unusual that these rogue mages considered these three, a peasant boy from a nowhere village in the Forsaken Region, a noble girl from over fifteen-hundred years ago that was born in the Forsaken Region, and a boy that was viewed as some sort of intermediary between commoner and noble, a greater threat than more experienced mages affiliated with the Magic Knights. Anyone with years of experience would be more dangerous than these three, even if they were still rookies. Why view them as a threat because of their magic?

"If you want to stop me from becoming a threat to you," went Shinji, suddenly sounding angry at the mere thought of these people wanting to get rid of him before he could achieve his own goal, "then you'll have to break me."

One of the other members of the Midnight Sun took off their hood and revealed themselves to be another girl, one with a deadpan face and pink hair, decorated by a gem on her forehead. Then, her face contorted into one of rage and contempt.

"Shinji Ikari," she uttered, sounding uninterested in what was going on right now, as a grimoire levitated in front of her and a strange, reddish-orange lizard appeared on her right shoulder, staring rather viciously at the Black Bulls, "you are loathsome, abhorrent, and you do not know your place in the order yet to come. You must die."

Two other mages then removed their hoods, revealing a young man with bits of white in his dark hair and a tattoo on the left side of his face…and another man that looked more like a beast.

"Meet the Third Eye," Sally introduced the three mages to them. "Here is Rhya of the Treacherous, Vetto of the Despair…and Fana of the Hateful. They are the strongest of the Midnight Sun…and the sealing of your doom."

 _They're called the Third Eye? They're the strongest of the group? Their names correspond to the opposite of the three virtues of the Clover Kingdom, faith, hope and love,_ thought Suki as a page turned in her grimoire and she activated another spell. "Time Thread Magic: Pacemaker Reduction!"

From out her grimoire, dozens of glowing threads shot across the environment, missing each individual mage before disappearing from sight.

"Was that supposed to intimidate us, little old girl?" Rhya asked her.

"Nope," she answered him. "I just needed to get my heart pumping. Doing nothing much of the time is a pain…at my age."

"I'll take out the Ikari boy," said Vetto. "Rhya, you take the old girl. Fana, you can have the Anti Magic peasant."

"No, I want the Ikari boy," said Rhya. "You'd just rip him to pieces."

"I'll dispatch all three myself," went Fana, deciding not to argue over who got who, and her lizard spat out a large stream of fire at them.

Shinji quickly scrolled through his grimoire for a defensive spell and found one that was just right for this attack.

"Spatial Time Magic: Magnified Return!" He called out, and a large portal appeared in front of the squad, allowing the fire attack to pass through it completely before closing. "And now we wait for it!"

"We don't have time to wait!" Asta informed him, brandishing his Demon-Dweller Sword at the rogue mages. "Let's get 'em!"

"Hell, yeah," Magna agreed with him, summoning his sword of fire. "You guys picked a fight with the wrong squad!"

-x-

"…These three must be the strongest of this group that just showed up where Shinji and Suki are," Misato suspected as they saw a picture of Shinji and the Black Bull squad facing off against this other group being led by the woman that looked like Maya and these three people that seemed more dangerous than the rest of them.

"What is this, the kingdom they're living in has three virtues that are represented by the three-leaf clover?" Asuka questioned, seeing a picture that had a clover that had three words written on each leaf. "Faith, hope and love…and their corresponding opposites, treachery, despair and hatred… The girl looks like she's full of hatred."

"It's starting to seem more like a story than a glimpse into another world through a photo album," said Kaji, looking at the man that looked more like a beast. "What chance does Shinji and his aunt have against these three when they're grouped with a bunch of people that are deemed a bunch of misfits?"

They turned to the next page in the album…but found any answers to such a question nonexistent. The next sequence of pictures that didn't belong in the book showed two different scenes that were most likely going on: On the left page were three pictures of Rika Ikari looking around what looked like a castle-like ruins in a spacious meadow a great distance from a town or city with this man that introduced the Ikari family's return to the kingdom…and on the right were four pictures depicting Tenshi and Yui and three other people, all wearing the same robes to indicate that they're from the same squad, exploring some underground location, but it looked as though Yui would rather be exploring alone than with anyone.

"Why does it seem like Shinji's mother is giving off an antisocial vibe?" Misato asked.

"Maybe she's disappointed that he joined the Black Bulls over one of the other squads that have more of a reputation for being accepted by the people," Gendo suggested, though this was just his opinion, as he could care less about the boy.

" _So, how does it feel to be on your first mission, Mr. Ikari?"_ They all heard a female voice say to Tenshi, and it had to be the young woman the picture depicted walking beside him.

" _Tenshi, please,"_ they heard him respond, _"and securing a new dungeon for the kingdom will ensure the people's benefit. All of the people's benefit."_

"Did anyone else just hear that?" Asuka asked.

"If you're referring to Shinji's uncle talking, then yes, I heard that," Kaji responded.

-x-

The ancestral grounds of House Ikari were about as large as half of the village of Hage, but preserved by the order of the Clover Kings that existed over the generations that came and went, waiting for the family to return. And as Rika sat on a rock just inside the old training grounds of her family's former dwellings, the rejuvenated witch sighed at how much the palace had fallen into disrepair after being abandoned.

"It's incredible," expressed Julius to her over being in such a place.

"Yes, it is," she agreed with him.

"Might I ask something?"

"Feel free."

"Are the grounds haunted?"

"Heh-heh…no, they're not haunted. They're just…ancient."

Letting the three Silva siblings go with a warning not to go after any of the Ikaris again was the only warning they would get. If they tried to do so for any reason that stemmed from an unnecessary vendetta against them, there would be consequences they wouldn't be able to avoid, ranging from humiliating their squad and house to being excommunicated from the Magic Knights, not entirely different from a dishonorable discharge. And all because of a simple…meaningless…dislike of an ancient family.

"You could've had the three suspended from the Silver Eagles, or forced them to do community service, Mrs. Ikari. Why let them go on probation?"

"If I didn't, then I'd be no different from their ancestors, whom I'm sure now were among the other houses that attacked my family the day Suki was born. Their ancestors from that time were responsible for the deaths of the majority of House Ikari. To blame the descendants of the families for what happened is to hold a grudge towards all of them, regardless of whether they were involved or not, whether they wanted to or not. I have no ill will towards the people of the House of Silva today for what happened back then, I just don't like the fact that these three chose to carry on a grudge that is as meaningless as it is pointless. Even if they managed to kill me and make it seem like an accident, it'd just be more meaningless violence. One magic family killing another magic family over a grudge? Where would it end? People kill each other over petty reasons, but soon come to realize that those reasons hint at larger problems. Jealousy, resentment, hatred, doubt, regret or just simple cruelty. And then, there's the social status issue; people from the upper class thinking they can get away with their bad acts just because they have more influence over others to deciding they can treat the people of the lower class like garbage. Either that's an inferiority complex or an outright disgust towards people that have to work for everything they have, it's not something one should overlook just because you're either told to or bribed into doing. My family couldn't treat others like they're expendable or replaceable, and that's why we left the Noble Realm and lived in the Forsaken Realm for as long as we did before our exile and return. I guess during the exile, just as with my upbringing, I just took crud from people that felt they were in control…just to learn how they were heading down slippery slopes with no way to stop until they hit something harder than their egos."

"And your opinion on the three from House Silva?"

"They're…likely too invested in their family's hatred of my family, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt…so long as they don't do it again. I'm not out to get any of them, so they shouldn't have to be after us…unless that is what they want or fear."

"With your family being the strongest of all other magical families because of your Infinity Affinity, you'd be able to inspire both fear and admiration, but why would anyone think you'd be after them if you weren't planning to go after anyone?"

"Because fear pushes people to do senseless acts. I once read an article about a man that murdered his friends…just because he thought they were going to kill him when they were really going to throw him a surprise party. It turned out the guy was not well in his head and had been battling with a disorder for years and nobody knew until after he did something bad."

"You believe them to be…unstable?"

"No, not unstable, just off. You get obsessed with something or someone long enough, it becomes all you concern yourself with."

Julius then bowed his head to Rika and saluted her for her wisdom. As the current matriarch of her family, she was clearly the wisest of them all, not just the oldest of them and everyone else in the kingdom…and maybe the world.

"Hmm?" Rika went, looking out at the land beyond her family's ancestral grounds.

"Is there something wrong?" Julius asked her.

"There is a presence of magic out there," she explained. "Probably some mages performing spells somewhere in the Common Region."

"You can feel magic from that far away? That's amazing, Mrs. Ikari."

But what she didn't tell him was that the magic she was feeling wasn't just strong…but full of malice. It was as though the people in possession of such magic were full of spite towards others…and were on a mission to cause harm somewhere.

 _I should call Shinji and Suki later today, just to see how they're doing on their first days as Magic Knights,_ she thought, unsure if she needed to worry about them.

To be continued…

A/N: Oh, no, what's going to happen next? Anyone have any idea what was up with Shinji and Suki's spells? How they're going to put up a fight against the Third Eye? Or even how to survive the fight?


	15. Prophecy of Hidden Danger

Creation began on 02-18-19

Creation ended on 02-19-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Prophecy of Hidden Danger

A/N: House Ikari has a problem of its own stemming from within.

It was quite a surprise to be invited to the office of the Wizard King himself, but Rika Ikari was reminded that the reason for her invite was because Julius Novachrono had something important to share with her. And it wasn't her first time being invited into an office of someone others looked up to.

"Tell me, what do you know about prophecies?" Julius asked her as he sat at his desk in front of her. "Anything at all?"

"Prophecies are preordained by forces greater than ourselves," Rika explained, "predestined to occur at some point in the future, regardless of the length of time it takes to happen. They can occur in a matter of days, months, years…or even over a millennia and a half, but they will come to pass, whether we desire them to or not."

"But…has there ever been a prophecy that was kept from coming to pass? Like, let's say…a foretelling of people getting hurt because of one person deciding their fate?"

Rika thought back to her childhood and the stories she heard about how previous members of House Ikari that held the False Destiny Breaker grimoire that Shinji now wielded were able to do what others could barely do, even those with four-leaf clover grimoires; they had been able stop an army, save whole villages, even, as some believed, to change another's fate for the better.

"It's a rarity…but prophecies can be avoided, prevented, even destroyed," she answered him. "Why do you ask?"

Julius opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a piece of parchment, a look of concern on his face as he set it on the desk for Rika to see.

"This prophecy formed a week after you had returned from your exile," he revealed. "It's not a pleasant one when you look at it."

Rika picked up the parchment and read what had been prophesied by a greater force at work.

" _With the return of the Clover Kingdom's strongest noble family, danger awaits the people. Within House Ikari lies unspeakable and treacherous intent. One will disgrace those that remain, but another will redeem them. As the night becomes day, children will cry for the comfort of their parents, spouses for their partners, and souls for their release from unwanted release."_ The prophecy read, and Rika looked at Julius with concern on her face.

"What does this prophecy mean, exactly?" She asked him.

"I think it means that, despite the respect and admiration I have for you, there is a member of your family that isn't who they seem to be. However, the prophecy doesn't say who it is, only that one of them has 'unspeakable and treacherous' intent. I'm assuming that someone in your family will disgrace all of you, but another will redeem you."

"The only question remains is…who is the one that will disgrace us…and who will redeem us?"

"I don't want to point an accusing finger towards any of you, but if this prophecy is right, it has to be someone in your family that has an agenda that places everyone within the kingdom in jeopardy," Julius uttered. "Can you think of anyone with an agenda of such a sort?"

Except Rika didn't want to consider it a possibility, as it seemed unlikely that they would try to hurt anyone, let alone the entire kingdom.

"There is," she confesses to that much, "but I don't want to believe it completely unless it comes to that. Please, Novachrono, for the time being, let whatever transpires transpire."

"And if it becomes inevitable and everyone is placed in danger?"

"If that happens…then I will take full responsibility of the repercussions…and deal with the Ikari that possesses treacherous intent myself."

Julius sighs and gives her the prophecy, claiming it was safer with her than with himself.

"Whoever it is you think is the one," he stated, "I hope the one that will redeem you will be able to and save everyone."

"I do, too," she responds, and gives him the clover salute before bowing her head and leaving.

"Intermediaries," she heard him say. "That is…pretty much the designation that exists for them right now. Your youngest daughter and grandson, I mean. They're intermediaries. Not seen entirely as nobles…but not viewed entirely as commoners, either. Does such a designation exist where you were exiled to?"

"Sparingly, sir," she answers. "In the societies of the world we were relocated to, you were either people somewhere in the upper class, middle class, or lower class. Only the middle class had an upper and lower intermediary status. We were middle classed, upper and lower, throughout our entire exile. It was a small country known as Japan, an archipelago, a cluster of islands, in the east, also known as the Land of the Rising Sun."

"That's funny. That place seems similar to the one Yami says he's from."

"Who's Yami?"

"Yami Sukehiro, the captain of the Black Bull squad for the Magic Knights."

"You mean the same squad my Suki and Shinji joined not too long ago?"

"Yes."

"I'm still wondering why Shinji, of all my family members, chose the Black Bulls out of the squads that desired him during his exam."

"To each examinee, the choice of whichever squad to belong to is entirely their own."

"Yes, that is true, but with my grandson, I'm trying to understand whether or not there was something more to his choice. I know he wants to work his way up to the top by starting at the bottom, but I've done my homework on each squad and its members…and this particular squad is the one some would work to avoid. But not Shinji. Instead of choosing the same squad his mother and uncle chose, the Golden Dawn, or the Crimson Lions or the other squads of the seven that did want him, he chose the one that has been looked down upon like an omen. I'm not ashamed of his decision, though, but want to understand the reason to why in its entirety."

"Must there be any other reason for why he chose them?"

"Because it's Shinji, yes."

"Well, surely, the reason will make itself known in due time."

"All one must demonstrate…is patience."

To be continued…

A/N: Uh-oh, who do you think the prophecy is referring to and why? And why would Rika request that for the time being that whatever might happen be allowed to happen?


	16. Swords and Thread

Creation began on 03-04-19

Creation ended on 04-01-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Swords and Thread

A/N: There was more to the spiritual meeting between Tenshi Ikari and his father, Mikazuki Ikari, after he became the new patriarch of House Ikari.

After Tenshi let go of his father, they walked away from the tree and along the beachside.

"What troubles your heart, Tenshi?" Mikazuki asked his son as he noticed Tenshi was looking away from him at the water.

"I thought I'd be ready for something like this," he responded, being cryptic. "I thought we'd be ready for a day like this."

"Whatever do you mean? Haven't you spent half your time preparing to succeed me as the patriarch of House Ikari? It has been a long time since we ever spoke up about it."

"Father…that's not what I'm talking about," Tenshi stated, stopping to face him. "I thought I'd be able to get past that night…but it wasn't something I could recover from, even with Healing Magic. Suki only knows about you from our mother's point of view…but none of us, including myself, were ready to be without you. None of us were ready to be without any of you that were taken that night."

Mikazuki sighed and nodded his head in understanding. It wasn't something any of them were ready to move past because it had happened unexpectedly during a time of celebration.

"A man that hasn't prepared his family for the time of his death, whether anticipated or unexpected, has failed them," he expressed sadly.

"Except you never failed," Tenshi assured him. "You're always the one with helpful advice. As a patriarch now, how do I best protect the family from danger, from both outside and inside the Clover Kingdom? I want to do my best, but I can't be like you or the previous patriarchs before us, Father."

"You're going to struggle on the road ahead. There are murky moments yet to manifest themselves in front of you, which is why you need to surround yourself with those you can trust. Friends, family, even magical spirits, whichever ones they are that come to you. You've always been one of the kindest of souls with the warmest of hearts, Tenshi…and it is hard for anyone of that sort to be as great as those that came before them."

"Tenshi," Tenshi heard another voice call out his name, and he and Mikazuki looked up ahead, seeing something manifesting out of the darkness. "Tenshi Ikari? It's been over fifteen-hundred years. We thought you were dead because we couldn't find you. Where have you been?"

It was a…young woman, probably in her late-teens, with long, ebony hair that reached past the small of her back, with blue eyes and wore a white, orange and green dress. Adorning her wrists were strands of thread, extending down to intertwining with her fingertips.

"It can't be," Tenshi gasped. "Arachne, is it really you?"

"Only a rare few with the blessing of Thread Magic were ever able to have me as their spiritual guide, Tenshi. I've been here since forever, wondering where you've been, whether or not you were alive, waiting for you to return to the Clover Kingdom."

"She wasn't the only one, Tenshi," they heard a male voice say to him, as a second person manifested from the darkness in front of them. "You have been deeply missed. I had almost lost hope in seeing you again."

It was a man, almost as old as Mikazuki, wearing medieval armor of silver and gold, wielding a large, dual-edged sword like it weighed next to nothing. His facial features included a curved scar under his left eye and ragged, salt and pepper hair.

"You're here, too, Excalibur?" Tenshi questioned, really happy to see the both of them, his two magic spirits.

Tenshi was among the rare few within House Ikari to possess unique circumstance that afforded him access to more than one spirit associated to Spirit Magic, and Excalibur and Arachne, the Spirits of Swords and Thread, were his to command since before the time he received his grimoire and began honing his magical abilities.

"It's been too long," he told them and he bowed his head to them.

"Far too long," Excalibur expressed as he and Arachne bowed and curtsied to him, respectively.

-x-

Gasp! Tenshi awoke on the kitchen table in front of Rika, feeling like a long time had passed since he lost consciousness.

"Hey, hey," Rika calmed him. "Breathe, Tenshi. Breathe deeply."

"Mother…I saw him," he sighed calmly with a smile. "I saw Father, and Excalibur and Arachne. They were with him."

"Excalibur and Arachne, the Spirits of Swords and Thread, respectively? You saw them?" Rika asked him, amazed.

Tenshi then reached for his grimoire on the counter and opened to a page.

"Sword Spirit Magic: Excalibur's Awakening," he uttered, and then flipped several pages to another page. "Thread Spirit Magic: The Calling of Arachne."

Beside them, the two spirits appeared, exactly as Tenshi had seen them earlier, and they greeted the two Ikaris with a small bow of their heads.

"Excalibur and Arachne," Rika greeted them with a bow. "It's great to see you two again."

"It's great to see you again, as well," Arachne responded. "You look good. Magic has restored you to your state of strength back when you were at your best."

"Your appearance may have changed, ma'am, but your wisdom has extended beyond the boundaries of age," Excalibur expressed, showing respect towards the matriarch's attitude over her looks. "You couldn't look the way you do without first obtaining wisdom, which only comes through age."

"Many thanks, Excalibur."

-x-

 _Within the Golden Dawn Headquarters_

Tenshi, walking around the confines of his quarters as his grimoire was active in the summoning of his two magical spirits while he engaged in swordplay with his katana.

"The Golden Dawn, Tenshi," went Excalibur to his mage, examining his room and robes. "Not bad. You impressed the captain to get where you are."

"So pretty," added Arachne as she danced around the walls. "But beauty, like all things, fade with time. Only the grace of wisdom has the strength to restore what once was…and preserve what is for what will become later."

Suddenly, one of Excalibur's daggers was lifted up from his right leg by a thread that Tenshi noticed coming from Arachne.

"Has your time away from us made you any different, Tenshi?" She asked, her voice unable to mask that she sought to test Tenshi in the art of defense as the dagger levitated closer to her due to her thread.

"When I couldn't use magic, I had to improvise," he told her, setting his sword down on the table. "Of all the magic I could use, Sword and Thread were…and still are…among my five primaries of magic. Tying thread to my blades was the simplest of magic that anyone without it could perform. Even without magic, there were other forms of magic that were of the intellectual variety. My exile didn't hinder me too much."

"I'll be the judge of that," she declared…and flung the dagger at him.

Tenshi stood his ground and raised his left hand up in front of him as the dagger came close enough to piece the palm.

"Nice," Arachne admitted, having stopped the dagger within an inch of his palm so as to not penetrate his flesh. "If anything, your exile and youthful restoration have made you stronger. You didn't flinch, not even a tick of your eyebrow. Good, Tenshi. Very good."

Knock-knock. A knock at the door came, and all three turned to face it.

"Who is it?" Tenshi asked.

"Mimosa Vermillion," a girl outside stated her name.

"You may enter," he permitted, and the door opened to show the girl that was, currently, the only female member of the Golden Dawn before Yui was sought after. "How may I help you this evening, Ms. Vermillion?"

"Um, just Mimosa is okay. We're on the same squad."

"To be able to address someone else by their given name on the level of a friend or ally so casually requires that both individuals have known each other for an extended period of time. We've only known each other for less than a day. I can't address you so casually just yet, Ms. Vermillion. One day, that will change, however."

Mimosa respected Tenshi's perception of addressing people and bowed her head.

"Again, how may I be of service to you this evening?" He asked her.

"Uh, well, I… The reason I came to see you is…um…" She spoke, but was nervous to ask him what was on her mind.

"Whatever it is you wish to ask me, just ask me," he told her.

"Your sister, Yui," she expressed, which caught his attention. "Is she… Has she always been so…well…odd?"

"Odd? Yui? In what way is she odd to you?"

"She…doesn't seem to have a passion for magic like everyone else does, even though she has come to accept that magic is everything around here. Her…way of thinking, this science that she seems to embrace, it's…creepy."

"With Yui, science is a constant aspect of her mindset, mainly because she grew up around it. As for being odd, it's difficult to see my little sister as anything else. She says she has good ambitions, but that…and an old agenda with bad methods of success…didn't earn her any good graces with family."

"So…she really did do something that was…bad?"

Tenshi turned away from her for a moment and sighed before saying, "It's only bad if she managed to get away with it, but could still be held against her for a time. No, what she had intended upon doing that was bad hasn't happened because she was stopped from carrying out by removing the pieces she needed to do so. The only thing she did so far that's hard to forgive her for…is just what she did to her son when he was little. That's something a parent simply has no right to do to any child, no matter what they believe in."

"So…how does your nephew feel about her?"

"Shinji? He's, uh…"

" _If she does something she's not supposed to be doing, I will deal with her myself,"_ Shinji's declaration of how he aimed to resolve the issue regarding his mother echoed in his mind.

"I guess you could say that my nephew is still coming to terms with her presence around him. She was absent from his life for more than ten years, and when we ended up back in the Clover Kingdom, she just ended up being returned to his life…against her volition. Not that she had a choice in the matter, I mean. Shinji was stuck inside that armored behemoth that was in Hage when we returned, and our mother cast the spell that released him from it, which, in turn, released his mother, whom we had no idea was even in there. And now, after several months of adjusting, it's in fate's hands on how their relationship will change."

"Your nephew, though… He seems very powerful at the moment. I mean, he was able to defeat a former Magic Knight that attacked the kingdom twice, and all he did was talk to him after sealing themselves in a dome. None of the other Magic Knights came closest to doing that. But…I don't understand why he would choose the Black Bulls, though."

"He chose the Black Bulls because he needs to earn his place among the Magic Knights. His ambitions are pretty basic and fueled by passion. He just wants to be among the best in his family, one of the most reliable and adaptable of mages. To get there, he has to work his way up through the ranks. The status of First Class Junior Magic Knight, he got that simply because he wanted to understand his enemy in order to defeat him. To get higher in the ranks, he has to show his skills to the world, refine his techniques, earn the trust and respect of his squad mates. Maybe one day, he'll even become the captain of his squad if he desired. Maybe even become the Wizard King if he desired to."

"You really think so?"

"If he's skilled enough, if he's interested in doing so and perseveres, it's possible. Although, there's only one major obstacle that stands between him and his goals, and that's everyone that aims to prevent him from climbing the mountain to make to either the middle or the top, which means everyone, including all of the Golden Dawn, even his mother, a rival, each of us standing in the other's way."

Mimosa realized that this was true in many respects. If Shinji wanted to be among the best of them, he would have to contend with the other Magic Knights and work his way up the ranks. This included trying to be as good as her one day.

"What about you?" She asked him. "What are your ambitions? Do you aim to become the Wizard King yourself one day?"

"Me? Heh, if I wanted to," he expressed. "For now, though, I'd just settle for working up the ranks and seeing how far I can get. It's a race, but I can run at my own pace, the same as everyone else."

"Oh…and, if it's alright to ask…who are these two?"

Tenshi looked to Excalibur and Arachne, who were silent throughout the entire conversation, and answered, "You know how there are magic spirits that exist around the world, like those associated to the four elements? Well, these two are my magic spirits. Excalibur of Sword Magic and Arachne of Thread Magic, my friends since I was little."

Mimosa bowed her head to the two spirits, who bowed back.

"Spirits of Sword and Thread Magic?" She asked. "This is almost as amazing as Yuno's Wind Magic spirit, Sylph, but you have two spirits, while he only has one, which is incredible."

"It is the quality of the spirit, miss," Excalibur stated, "not the quantity."

"Any number of spirits means nothing unless they're able to serve you in any way beneficial to your goals," added Arachne, "and we hope to aid Tenshi in the present like we did in the past."

To be continued…

A/N: Now we know a little more about the degree of magic Tenshi exhibits and how advanced his abilities are, were, and could progress as time passes. I bet none of you were anticipating that someone like this could have two magic spirits instead of one.


	17. Wounded Sight

Creation began on 01-29-19

Creation ended on 04-10-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Wounded Sight

SLAM! Asta was knocked back against a tree by Vetto, who was enveloped in an orange aura that resembled a large bear.

"Fire Spirit Magic," he heard Fana's voice as she prepared to attack again, unhindered in the least by Charmy's Cotton Magic or Vanessa's Thread Magic, "Salamander's Breath."

The fire spirit on her shoulder unleashed another stream of fire at the Black Bulls.

"Spatial Time Magic: Magnified Return!" Shinji yelled as he appeared in front of Asta, opening another portal that absorbed the flames. "Can you still fight, Asta?"

"I'm not done yet!" Asta responded.

"Then let's tag team this beast man!"

Asta then summoned his Demon-Dweller Sword and charged towards Vetto with Shinji.

Slash! Both boys swung their swords at the man-beast and left several minute cuts across his chest and arms.

"Aaaaurgh!" Vetto roared, his body aglow like a person set ablaze. "Beast Magic: Leo's Wrath!"

Using his claws, Vetto slashed at the air in between the three of them and sent energy slashes at them, sending the two Black Bulls flying sideways to the ground.

"Ah, man!" Magna yelled, and threw a fireball at Vetto, who was unaffected. "Uh-oh."

"Was that supposed to hurt me?" He questioned, approaching him.

"Hey, dog face!" He turned back and saw Shinji getting back up, a trail of blood dripping from the side of his mouth and down his neck. "Right now, his fireballs are only an appetizer. You're about to get the main course!"

Suddenly, the ground around Vetto started to darken as something under him began to manifest.

"What is this?" He demanded, but didn't think to get clear.

BLAST! He was suddenly bathed in red-hot flames that shot up into the air above them all.

"How does it feel to be attacked by magic that belongs to one of your own?" Shinji asked him; the properties of his Magnified Return spell allowed him to absorb enemy spells and send them back, several times stronger than they were when used the first time.

Fana recognized her own spell being used against Vetto, but it was never like this before. It was stronger than what she was already capable, meaning this Ikari boy was able to take spells and amplify them to degrees where only those of a high level of magic would be capable of. Not only was he strong right now, but could become stronger as time passes, and she feared that he would become strong enough to not only to be an actual threat to Licht, but would become akin to a god. This meant they had to get rid of him now more than ever.

As the fire spell dissipated, Vetto was still standing, but his body was completely burnt beyond recognition. Turning to face Fana, he looked as though she had been the one to attack him, even though it was actually Shinji's doing.

"You're Vetto of the Despair, huh?" Shinji questioned as he walked over to the burnt man-beast. "You think you know all about despair? You think you're the only one that will ever understand it? You know, you almost had me feeling it when you hit Asta and I with that last attack, and we don't even know you. I hope you'll forgive me when I say it's nothing personal, because it's really nothing personal towards you or your friends or allies… But when you let despair get the better of you, it leaves you feeling exactly as I'm sure you're feeling right now. Lost and full of pain. Oh, full of pain."

Then, before Vetto could do anything to indicate that he was still capable, Shinji used a Sealing Magic spell to trap him inside a block of ice. The ice would cool him down and the cold temperature would force him to become hypothermic. This process also forced Vetto's grimoire to cease any magical action and fall to the ground.

"Vetto!" Rhya shouted, seeing this happen and watched as Shinji picked up his grimoire, feeling a sense of dread in that Vetto, who was stronger than he himself was, was quickly dispatched by a newbie from the House of Ikari. "You're going to pay for what you did to him, boy!"

He charged towards Shinji, intending to copy the magic of his grimoire and lay waste to him as payback, but was then tripped over by something.

"Aurgh, what?!" He demanded, looking at what tripped him, seeing thread. "Thread?!"

"You keep your hands away from my nephew, sir," he heard Suki tell him, just as her Grizzly Mayhem spell knocked aside several Midnight Sun members that tried to get the better of her and Venessa. "I don't wanna boast when I say this, but we have got skills you have never seen."

"Is that right?" He asked her as he got up, just to fire a magic bullet at them, only it was reduced so much in its potency that by the time it did hit Suki, it was like getting hit with a cotton ball. "How in the…"

Bash! He was struck in the back of his head by Grey, who had used her Transformation Magic to disguise herself as a member of the Midnight Sun, and quickly took his grimoire.

"Nice move, Ms. Grey," Suki praised the disguised girl.

"Thank you," she responded.

-x-

Yui had never seen this side of her brother before, but had to admit that it was impressive to see him with two magic spirits instead of one. Not only was he a powerful mage in that way, but was showing more of why he got to where he was in the family. It was no wonder their mother once stated that even if she had married Gendo, he wouldn't become a head of the family. There was no doubt that even now, nothing her husband did would've gotten him in her mother's good graces. And lately, she was starting to consider that nothing she did would get her in the good graces of certain people, either.

Tenshi, having befallen a creature of magic left from a trap spell, had secured the dungeon for the good of the Clover Kingdom. Now, all this treasure belonged to them.

"He's impressive," went Yuno, accompanied by his Wind Magic spirit.

"And he has two spirits," Sylph expressed. "Excalibur and Arachne. I've never heard of them,"

"Excalibur and Arachne," said Klaus in awe of their power working in tandem with Tenshi's. "I never thought that magic spirits of this sort existed."

Excalibur had aided Tenshi by giving him a bigger sword and Arachne tied her threads to the hilt and Tenshi's hands, allowing him to attack from a distance and control which way the sword was swung when used to attack or defend.

"Your brother's probably strong enough to go head-to-head with the vice-captain if he wanted to," Mimosa told Yui.

"Is that so?" She asked her.

-x-

Suki's Pacemaker Reduction spell was very effective against these members of the Midnight Sun, reducing their spells by so much that they were weak enough to be taken out by the Black Bulls. Going further, the threads she used were spread out all over the place outside the Bulls' hideout, and so thin, they were invisible to sight and the ability to sense mana.

 _And they only affect the magic of the enemy, not us,_ thought Noelle in realization; she had been wondering why, despite knowing for certain that she made contact several times with Suki's threads, her magic didn't falter each time she used it.

"If these threads are all over the place and weakening our forces," went Fana, angrier over the crippling losses plaguing the Midnight Sun, "then I shall burn away all that is to destroy you Ikaris. Fire Spirit Magic: Salamander's Fury."

The dragon on her shoulder unleashed another fireball, this one much bigger than the previous ones she had it unleash. It was as big as three-story building!

"Uh, Shinji, I don't supposed you can deal with that, can you?" Luck asked Shinji.

"I don't think so, but maybe she can," Shinji responded, pointing to Fana, just as a spatial rift opened in front of them, unleashing a fireball. "My Spatial Time Magic spell has expired."

An augmented Salamander's Breath attack against a Salamander's Fury attack; as both were Fire Spirit Magic spells associated with the same spirit, it was anyone's guess at how they'd react towards one another. It was possible that they would cancel each other out, but it was possible that the spell that was strongest would outdo the other.

Swoop! The augmented Salamander's Breath made impact with Salamander's Fury…and absorbed it into itself as it went up into the air…and exploded.

The ground shook as a wave of heat spread across the area.

"Whoa!" Charmy gasped as she fell onto her bottom.

When the shaking stopped, all the minions of the Midnight Sun were down, excluding Sally, Fana, Rhya and Vetto, whose ice prison melted, freeing him.

"You…you almost came close to killing me, boy!" Vetto roared, raising his burnt left arm up, and his grimoire, which Shinji had dropped in the rumbling, returned to him. "Beast Healing Magic: Viper's Molt!"

Then, bathed in orange mana, Vetto's burnt body…fell to the ground like a curtain or a sheet, revealing him in an uninjured state, before he was scorched.

"You will learn despair," he threatened Shinji, "and your squad mates will be how you'll suffer from it!"

Shinji raised his sword up and glared at Vetto.

"I've already experienced despair twice in my life," he told the man-beast. "You're drowning in it and you want everyone else to drown with you. Your friend, the disloyal guy, how do you know if he's loyal enough to pull you out of your despair? And her, how do you know her hatred won't compel her to leave you? My solution to your despair…is let go of it before it consumes you beyond escape."

"Insignificant," Fana expressed, "unworthy, degenerative. You must die above all others, Ikari."

"Not while I'm around," went the Guardian of the Void to them, dragging a minion of the Midnight Sun by their neck. "Your followers have fallen. You may have more strength to spare, but you are outnumbered, and you know not what we're truly capable of. Persist, and your downfall may be the result of your pride, your arrogance to deal in death and judgment to those you know nothing of. But those that know they're better off running away from a fight they may surely lose…will live to fight another day. Accept this defeat…and leave while you're still able to do so."

"And why is that what we should do?" Vetto asked him. "Is it so that we will understand how fortunate we were to escape?"

"No," Guardian explained, "so that you can tell your comrades that didn't show up here how lucky they were not to have been laid waste to."

Fana was about to speak when Rhya opened his grimoire and activated a spell, summoning a dark circle under Vetto, himself, Fana and Sally, and they fell into it.

"We'll meet again, Ikari," he warned them, escaping while they still could, leaving the twenty or so Midnight Sun members behind.

"Ugh," the guy Guardian was dragging groaned, and was tossed among his comrades.

"This…was completely upsetting," Suki expressed.

"Your Guardian of the Void was most persuasive, Shinji," went Gauche, holding onto his right side as one of his ribs were likely broken. "And your spells were most helpful."

"Helpful, yes, but also exhausting," Shinji confessed, falling to his right knee in front of Asta. "Let's tie these guys up and send them off to the capital or somewhere in the Common Realm."

As they were restraining the defeated minions, Yami took extra notice of Shinji and Suki, and suspected that the younger member of House Ikari was still testing his limits and had yet to push past them because the Third Eye had taken the suggestion of his Anti Magic creature and fled before the fight could escalate further.

"…When Licht comes after you, you will be sorry you lived to see another day," of the minions warned them.

Smack! Luck knocked him out.

"When we meet him," the boy told them, "I hope he's as strong as those three were."

-x-

"What happened?" Licht asked Sally as she and the Third Eye returned to him.

Rhya knelt before him and uttered, "The Ikari boy with the Black Bulls…may be a little more powerful than we realize, and this might've been him on a bad day. This creature he had with him was strong, too. He was able to injure Vetto using Fana's magic and turning it on him. It told us to leave while we were still able to. I took us away before the battle could escalate further. I apologize and take full responsibility for this failure."

Licht turned away and looked at a picture of Shinji, sighing at how it was going to be more challenging to deal with him over the eldest daughter of House Ikari and the Anti Magic peasant of the Black Bulls.

"Tell me," he spoke, "what was this creature capable of that was with the Black Bulls?"

"It was also capable of using Anti Magic," answered Sally to him. "Several spells were used against it, but none of them seemed to harm it. I think the Ikari boy, Shinji, called it the Guardian of the Void."

Licht's left eyebrow raised up as he recalled an old story about a strange creature that went by that designation. But the last time anyone had ever seen such a creature was too long ago. Any accurate information revolving around the magical creature would've been lost alongside the majority of the House of Ikari. All he really knew was that it gave him a reason to ponder the fate of his group's goal if the boy was allowed to persist in the magical arts more than the rest of his family…and may be more of a threat than the Anti Magic boy with the Black Clover Grimoire in his possession.

"Another day," he told them. "This Ikari isn't strong enough to be a threat just yet…but is getting there. I look forward to meeting him soon."

When he said that, the Third Eye knew that meant only one thing: Licht aimed to face the boy himself and see how powerful he would be against him. This only meant that the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun saw within someone like this Shinji Ikari something worth his time. And rectifying the disgrace they were dealt.

-x-

Only twenty members of the Midnight Sun were rounded up, but quite a blow to the group and an advantage to the Clover Kingdom. Even if the majority were just new recruits, it was still good, as it meant potential advancement for the Black Bull squad; more stars, less negative stars, rank increase, even more recognition.

"…Hard to believe that nobody in our squad knows Healing Magic," Shinji heard Suki say to him, having healed him like she had done with the others that were injured.

"Not many mages are versed in the art," he responded. "Not enough experience to perform it."

"What about you? Do you have a Healing Magic spell in your grimoire?"

As they were at the Royal Capital getting the minions handed over, everyone within the Black Bulls were off doing their own thing until Yami summoned them. This left the aunt and nephew alone to wander the neighborhood.

"There's one spell I've found that does healing…but it's not…well, it's not user-friendly," Shinji revealed to his aunt.

"What do you mean?" She asked him.

"It heals people, but it doesn't heal the one using it, therefore not user-friendly."

"That's a pretty one-sided Healing Magic spell."

"It's probably meant as a last resort spell, only to be used during times of desperation."

"Like ensuring that your squad survives or recovers enough to deal with something or someone once they're vulnerable enough to take out?"

"Yeah, something of that sort, Shinji."

"Shinji and Suki?" They heard someone call out to them from behind, and turned to see Tenshi, who seemed happy to see them. "Wow, look at you two in your robes. They look good on you."

"Likewise with you in your robes, big brother," Suki told her brother. "What are you doing here in the Royal Capital, anyway?"

"I'm just reporting in my part in the claiming of a new dungeon and its treasures for the kingdom by the Golden Dawn. What about you two?"

"We're just…sort of the same thing," Shinji stated; he didn't want to boast about anything that happened or let anyone he didn't trust with knowing such sensitive information.

Tenshi seemed to understand that Shinji wasn't up for disclosing anything after getting the impression that his mother was nearby.

"After your mother gave her report to the captain of our squad, she up and left through a portal, saying she was off to do research," he told his nephew. "I don't think she's looking to make any friends within the Golden Dawn any time soon."

"Well, what about you, Tenshi?" Suki asked. "Have you made any friends?"

"At least two," he answered her. "They're nobles, though, so I can't exactly…relate to them."

"But…you're a noble, as well, right?" Shinji asked him.

"I am, but I never felt like I could belong with other nobles of a…particular mindset revolving around the sense of pride and social status."

"What kind of social status?"

"People that believe those of low birth should be disregarded and all Magic Knights should be of the nobility instead of mixed between themselves and commoners. It's a…wounded sight, in a way. They're in a rut, unwilling to see that the old ways are almost done."

"They still must be happy to have you in their squad, though."

"Two of them are, but the rest are… I don't really know."

"Who are they?"

"Mimosa Vermillion and Klaus Lunettes."

"They don't seem bad."

"If anything, they're nobles accepting of people from lesser beginnings, people that had to work to get where they are."

"Hey, Tenshi," Shinji decided to speak of something he didn't want to be something of a fluke regarding himself, "did you know about my rank after I was accepted into the Magic Knights?"

"Yeah," he answered him. "Everybody in my squad did. Didn't you?"

"I didn't know about it until earlier today…when we were attacked by a small number of the Eye of the Midnight Sun. One of its members, a girl who looked like a girl I saw at NERV a little, said Suki, Asta and I were a threat to them all, and these three people they called the Third Eye, named after the reverse of the Clover Kingdom's three virtues, seemed to be the strongest of the mages that were present."

"But we were able to repel them," Suki added, "and Shniji's Guardian of the Void made them leave before things got worse."

"But what I'm trying to ask is…was my rank a fluke?"

"It wasn't a fluke, Shinji," Tenshi told him. "You earned that rank. All you did was talk to a former Magic Knight and defeated him with common sense and reasoning. How many Magic Knights do you think were able to do what you did? Most of them are even wondering if you're aiming for the status of Wizard King, an ambition shared by many."

Shinji nodded in the negative; no matter how many times it was suggested or suspected, he didn't want to be the Wizard King, only a good mage like everyone else in House Ikari.

"Beneath the Wizard King, how many ranks are there within the Magic Knights?" He asked Tenshi, needing to know how far he could get in rank.

"Under the rank and title of Wizard King, there is Grand Magic Knight, Senior Magic Knight, Intermediate Magic Knight, and Junior Magic Knight. Going further, those four ranks are divided into five ranks, the first being the highest and the fifth being the lowest. You have to have achieved a certain measure of success, represented by the number of stars you've acquired for your squad, before you can be promoted to a higher ranking by the current Wizard King. The more stars you obtain for your squad by performing well in missions, the greater your chances are in getting a higher ranking. New history in our family-wise, Shinji, you're overwhelming by being the first of us to get a high rank when you got accepted. You outdid your mother, Suki and I, and we're still Fifth Class Junior Knights, but I aim to increase my ranking through hard work as time goes on."

"Wow, Shinji, you did better than the three of us," Suki praised him. "Work hard to get where you want to be."

Shinji smiled as he looked up at the sky. As happy as he was to receive praise from his aunt and uncle…he did wish for his mother to have praised him, too.

-x-

Standing before the royal library, Yui sighed as she felt her grimoire was…lacking in both spells and fortitude to her liking. Hearing that this place contained some information on how to improve one's magic, she decided to advance her knowledge in the magical arts in order to grow stronger. Being surrounded by the other members of the Golden Dawn was…not something she was into just yet. And there was something about the way that most of the members were all of nobility, including her big brother, while she was viewed as an intermediary like her son and this Yuno guy was a peasant that possessed a four-leaf clover grimoire like her siblings that made her feel…inferior to them, despite her ability to perform various forms of magic.

 _I need to become stronger than they are,_ she thought as she walked into the building. _I need to advance if I'm ever going to fulfill my ambition._

To be continued…

A/N: The title had some levels of meaning if you could see them. Let me know in reviews what you thought of it. Peace.


	18. Intellectual

Creation began on 04-11-19

Creation ended on 04-12-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Intellectual

So far, just one mission for her from the Clover Kingdom didn't get her far with the Golden Dawn, so Yui sought to expand upon her knowledge of the magical arts. The royal library was said to have an extensive archive on magic and instructions on how to increase mana manipulations more effectively, something it didn't seem like many of the Magic Knights were taking advantage of.

 _Strange on how this is a library, and yet there's hardly anyone here,_ thought Yui as she found five books worth her time and began to read one of them. _Knowledge is power, and yet it's a power that not many of the knights seem to embrace._

-x-

"…Why does it seem like Yui is trying to do something on her own?" Fuyutsuki suspected as everyone in Gendo's office saw the magic picture of the chronologically-younger Ikari woman sitting alone inside a library.

"Maybe she's just trying to individuate herself from the rest of the group she's in," Kaji suggested, pointing to a picture of Shinji, Tenshi and Suki talking outside on some street. "She certainly seems to lack the chatty nature that her siblings and son demonstrate. And it doesn't seem like she knows what happened with Shinji and Suki."

"Either she doesn't know…or she doesn't think that it was serious because Shinji can do magic," Gendo stated his opinion; he was willing to believe in the latter since it didn't seem like Yui was concerned about their son.

Misato turned the page in the album and saw a picture of Shinji with Suki practicing more magic against each other…and another picture where it seemed as though Yui was still at the library or was visiting again.

-x-

"…Weren't you here yesterday?" Yui heard a man ask her as she brought the five books she borrowed back.

He was around her height, bald, hazel eyes and wore a brown shawl over a blue shirt and pants.

"I was," she answered him. "Who are you?"

"Friends call me Wong…instead of Wan Shi Tong of the Tong family."

"Wong…like…like a nickname or something?"

"Unfortunately."

"Yui Ikari."

"Of House Ikari?"

"Yes."

Then Wong looked over the five books, making sure they were in order.

"Let's see…you've brought back… _The Basics of Water Magic_ , _The Basics of Earth Magic_ … _Beginner's Guide to Fire Magic_? _Understanding Wind Magic_? And _Study of Mana Manipulation_?" He checked each of them, and then looked up at Yui. "You read all of these in less than a day?"

"Yes, I did," she answered him; it wasn't hard to go through five books in a single day when she had nothing else to do.

"Come with me, please," Wong instructed her, walking away.

She followed him to a different section of the library that seemed separated from the rest of the building, with a different series of books on displays and on shelves.

"This section is reserved for Senior and Grand Magic Knights," he explained to her as he stopped by a shelf and pulled out a book, "but at my discretion, others may use it. The books here have understandings on magic other books only tell you on the surface."

Yui took notice of a number of books that were floating in a ring in the middle of the room, lined by three chains.

"Uh, what are those books over there?" She asked Wong.

He looked over at the books and answered, "Those are the books accessible to the Wizard King. I guess you could say that they're his private collection."

"So they're forbidden?"

"No form of magic-based knowledge, with the exception of Reincarnation Magic, is forbidden, only certain practices revolving around such knowledge."

Yui took one of the books off the ring and opened it, citing how it was written in a language reminiscent of some of the old ones she was familiar with…and noticed that at least three pages were missing from it.

"This book is missing three pages," she informed Wong.

"That's the _Book of Chronos_ , the study of Time Magic," he explained to her, carrying over five books. "The last librarian in charge of this section failed to stop a mage that went rogue from ripping two spells from that book that became known as some of the lost spells…before the mage relieved him of his heart and head."

Setting the books down, Wong took the book from Yui and put it back on the ring.

"I'm the guardian of these books now, and I would know if any of them were to be taken…and the culprit responsible, regardless of their status, would find themselves relieved of their hands before they ever left the building."

"Right," Yui responded, no doubt intimidated by him, and noticed the five books he chose were of the same types of magic and mana manipulations she had previously read, but were more advanced, and picked them up. "Well, thank you for your discretion on allowing me to read the books of this section…and the brief history of the previous librarian's fate and the two missing spells…and the threat upon my life if I tried to take a book I wasn't supposed to. Thank you very much."

She then left out the room and went to find a desk to sit at to begin reading one of them.

-x-

"…Yikes," went Asuka, seeing the picture of Yui quickly walking away as the bald guy replaced the book she took down. "That man must be some kind of strict custodian."

"Yeah, or just someone that wants people to respect the rules of a library," suggested Kaji.

Gendo disregarded their opinions and turned the page, but unfortunately pulled about three pages with it, revealing…darkness and malevolence.

"What the…" Misato went, seeing Shinji locked in some sort of conflict, his face half-smeared in gore. "Go back, go back!"

She quickly returned to the page Gendo turned to and found five pictures that were a blessing over the fright they saw Shinji in. In the top photo on the left showed Rika at home, probably eating alone, with the second photo under her showing Yui reading one of the books she had in her possession in her Steel Sanctuary, appearing to be practicing some sort of fire manipulation. The top photo on the right side displayed Suki in her room writing something at her desk, possibly a letter or even a report if they were taking anything they did serious. And the last two pictures beneath displayed Shinji and Tenshi, apparently engaged in some sort of training exercise.

"What is Shinji doing with his uncle?" She wondered aloud.

-x-

While there might've been a rule against squads working together, there were always loopholes when it came to certain members of families on opposing squads willing to help each other get better. This was why Shinji and Tenshi were meeting in Hage to improve some of their spells; the village was neutral territory and neither was looking to answer to their squad mates why they were working to get stronger when they were already.

"So, Shinji," went Tenshi, holding up his sword, "you mind telling me exactly what happened yesterday? I take it your first day as a Magic Knight didn't give you the sort of excitement you were thinking about, as you had to face several people that singled you out."

Shinji, brandishing his own sword and Guardian of the Void, looked at his uncle and expressed, "They saw me as a threat, and I'm just starting out. How can I be considered a threat to someone if I'm nowhere near where I want to be yet? I haven't even overcome my limits yet. I must've used a few spells in my grimoire to deal with the Midnight Sun, and I felt drained of energy."

"The energy requirements of certain spells can leave you weakened, which is why you must have a deep reserve of mana when facing anyone that is stronger than you suspect they are."

"Royals and nobles have access to a larger pool of mana than those of most commoners."

"Bloodlines and social lineage mean nothing unless control is enforced. You can be a royal or noble of the highest degree, but unless you have control over your magic, none of that matters. People that have either neglected such teachings or have been denied such have a harder time learning to use their magic than those that have spent their whole lives studying it. In the end, control, discipline and conviction…make a big difference to anyone learning in the magical arts."

Clash! Their swords crossed and Tenshi had Shinji on his left knee as he tried to get up.

"Try to focus on your breathing exercises," he told Shinji. "Mana consumption is like breathing. When you run too far and fast, your lungs run out of air and your heart beats harder."

Shinji did as instructed, breathing in through his nose and out his mouth.

"Slowly, Shinji, calm yourself."

Slowly, Shinji felt his heartbeat slow down, like he had recovered from running a mile someplace and steadily rose back up to his feet.

"Good…now try a spell on me. Any spell."

Shinji's grimoire flipped a few pages and a spell activated.

"Light Sword Magic," he uttered, and his sword began to glow intensely. "Heaven's Blessed Rage!"

The light display was so intense that Tenshi had to back away, dropping his sword in the process.

"Aaaurgh!" He groaned when the light show ended as his vision corrected. "That was impressive, Shinji…for a spell you just used for the first time."

Feeling as though he had the wind taken out of him, Shinji inhaled through his nose and out his mouth to restore his energy, watching as his uncle charged towards him with his sword held high.

"Blood Slash Magic," he yelled as his sword began to glow red, "Demon's Inner Rampage!"

Before Shinji could block with his sword, Guardian got in between them and tail-whipped Tenshi off his feet.

"Guardian of the Void protects," it spoke up, lowering its head to Tenshi in the form of intimidation. "Yield or be slammed upon."

Tenshi, realizing that he couldn't make a move while the creature was so close and leaving him at a disadvantage, dropped his sword and uttered, "Wise ass."

Guardian pulled away and then offered his right claw to him, helping him up.

"Something tells me that Guardian of the Void is more powerful than he seems right now," Tenshi expressed to Shinji.

"An Anti-Magic creature may be capable of a lot more than we realize," Shinji responded, "but only time will tell…and future development. Shall we continue?"

"Yes."

Tenshi picked up his sword and walked back a good distance so that they'd both be evenly leveled, their grimoires glowing and floating beside them.

"I hope you're ready to get serious, Shinji," he told his nephew. "I'm about to show you the strength and scope of my Spirit Magic."

"Bring it, Uncle Tenshi," Shinji responded, brandishing his sword while Guardian raised his claws. "After my experience with the Third Eye, I aim to get stronger!"

To be continued…

A/N: For now, I'll stop here and progress on other works. Let me know what you think. To those that thought of the new character Yui encountered, he is a combination of both the character from _Doctor Strange_ and the spirit from _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ , based solely on their names.


	19. Silver or Lead, Silva

Creation began on 04-26-19

Creation ended on 04-28-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Silver or Lead, Silva

A/N: How far is anyone willing to go to do something for better or for worse?

It was unbelievable to fathom that the Black Bulls had gotten a few stars after capturing just a handful of members belonging to the Eye of the Midnight Sun, and it infuriated Nozel, Nebra and Solid Silva to no end when part of the very reason the worst Magic Knight squad in the kingdom was attacked was due to three of its worst members. They couldn't understand why any group of rogue mages saw two of the Ikari family and the Anti Magic boy as a greater threat than the whole lot of Magic Knights put together, especially the veteran knights, who were the oldest and most powerful of them under the Wizard King.

"…So the Midnight Sun feels threatened by House Ikari and a kid with a type of magic that cancels out other forms of magic," said Nozel to his fellow siblings in his room. "Unfortunately, House Ikari was marked the second they returned, so that makes them the problem of the nobility, not some pack of freaks."

"Except we can't lay a finger on any of House Ikari after our failed attempt to attack the matriarch," went Nebra, reminding them that they had no grounds to pick a fight with a family that was more powerful than theirs. "That witch let us go with a warning. If we try something else, we'll be in trouble…and I do not want to jeopardize my chances of increasing my rank and my power."

"Whoever said we had to do something directly?" Solid questioned. "If for some reason or another, House Ikari's members of the Black Bulls were to be met with…some sort of accident…by maybe a person with no control over their magic…in a training exercise, we wouldn't be directly involved, would we? Not if we were simply…suggesting something of the sort to our black sheep sister."

"You want to use Noelle as a Trojan horse to get rid of the Ikari boy that defeated Rades and his aunt?" Nebra responded. "What makes you think that Noelle even has the ability to cause an accident that could affect those two?"

"If she was able to do it before, then she could surely do it again," Solid stated simply.

-x-

Noelle was woken up in the middle of the night by her Communication Magic Tool glowing. Who could be calling her at a time like this? She got out of bed and picked it up off her desk, opening it and a small visual of someone she didn't expect to speak with for quite some time showed up in front of her face.

"Nozel?" She spoke. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Oh, this is a serious matter, Noelle, and it can't wait," her elder brother responded. "Normally, Nebra, Solid or I would handle something like this, but we're unfortunately…unable to, so this is something we feel that you can do."

"What…what are you talking about?"

Because she was still half-asleep, Noelle didn't understand what Nozel was trying to tell her.

"The matter concerns those two Ikaris in your squad," Nozel told her.

 _Shinji and Suki?_ Noelle thought, still half-asleep. _What about those two? The boy's aunt's a noble that lived her entire life among the commoners and her only nephew is some kid that isn't a noble but isn't considered a peasant, either, but something in between along with his mother. What could possibly concern them to you three?_

"…The thing of is…if they were to meet with some sort of…accident…they wouldn't be considered much of a problem for anyone; nothing that's too serious, but serious enough to make sure that they wouldn't be much of a problem for anyone," Nozel suggested. "Think about it, Noelle; if they got hurt by you during a training session, and it was accepted as an accident, we'd be grateful to you for humiliating them. House Ikari isn't all that powerful, anymore, so they're not all that special. Why would anyone continue to see them as special? You make them see that…and you'll likely find fortune in your future, sis. You set them straight…and you'll be the better one."

It felt like a form of bribery; if she were to hurt Shinji and Suki, her own squad mates, then her own siblings would show her respect. But if she hurt them, then it would weigh heavily on her conscience because she decided that wanting her family's acknowledgement was more important to her than the respect of her fellow squad mates.

"Think about it," Nozel told her. "You decide what you'll do."

Then the call ended, and Noelle was left thinking what to do about this. Did she dare to cause harm to the two Ikaris that were part of the Black Bulls and make it look like an accident…or look the other way regarding her family?

 _Hurt Shinji and Suki; make it look like an accident, but it wouldn't truly be an accident,_ she thought, looking out the window of her room at the night. _I'd know…and I'd be unable to look them in the face with complete honesty._

Still…to want her siblings' respect and acceptance…would've helped Noelle, maybe even begin to fix her familial ties with House Silva. For her, to be accepted by family was what she longed for ever since she was old enough to recall their disgust towards her.

"Hmm?" She went, feeling a degree of magic outside, and decided to look out the window. "What is that intermediary doing?"

She saw Shinji, looking as though he were being led away from the Black Bulls' hideout by his Guardian of the Void, which was walking towards the lake. Suddenly, she saw it stop…and look towards the hideout. She ducked her head to avoid being seen, but it probably saw her already. There was a silence that lasted longer than five minutes before Noelle looked out again, and saw the Guardian and Shinji standing on the water in the lake.

"Incredible," she expressed; she hadn't seen anyone with Water Magic display the ability to walk on water as though it were the ground.

-x-

"…Do you think she'll do it?" Nebra asked Nozel and Solid.

"If she does, then at least she'll have done us a favor by hurting two of House Ikari's members," said Solid. "If not, then that'll just prove she's more pathetic than we knew she was."

Nozel didn't deny this assumption; but if Noelle did go and cause a painful accident to occur to this Shinji and Suki Ikari, then House Silva would at least be down two members of House Ikari. How they would deal with the other three, it would have to come at a later time when they had another way to do away with these people.

-x-

Walking around the village of Hage at night, Rika Ikari found the silence of the outside much better than the quiet of her house. With her grimoire out, a page flipped over and she activated a spell that spread through the air with her voice.

"Dream Song Magic," she uttered, "Melody of the Past and Future."

As she sang her chosen melody, it reached across the kingdom faster than the winds could flow. It was a melody of life's ups and downs, of friendship, family, truths and lies, acceptance and rejection, and faith in others when you lost faith in yourself. And as she sang, her feet began to carry her into the air whilst wings of light formed on her back.

Anyone that bothered to look up at her to find where the source of the strange melody they were hearing came from, could've mistook Rika for some sort of angel because of the wings.

-x-

"…It doesn't look like they're up to much from their respective points of view," said Misato to the others as they were looking at the five photos that depicted each of House Ikari's members doing different things at what appeared to be the same time at night.

On the upper left, Tenshi seemed to be in a pocket dimension with these two people that appeared to connect with his grimoire, wielding swords and thread against him. The photo on the upper right side depicted Rika with wings of light, looking as though she were some sort of singing angel. On the lower right was Suki, asleep with her grimoire lying beside her bed. Under Tenshi's photo on the left showed Yui reading through three different books at the same time. And under Rika's photo was Shinji, looking as though he were engaged in some combat training with his Guardian of the Void…on the surface of a lake beside the Black Bulls' hideout.

"Ikari-Kun is getting better at using different forms of magic," went Rei, seeing that Shinji was likely using water-based magic in order to walk on the water in the lake.

"Maybe, but what is his mother up to?" Asuka questioned, noting that a woman reading three different books had something else on their mind. "And his aunt, she's just sleeping."

"Probably spent the day outside doing nothing," suggested Gendo, not in the least interested about his sister-in-law's habits.

Fuyutsuki then turned the page, seeing an old photo of what was likely an infant version of Yui herself, wearing a blue dress and playing with building blocks instead of a doll nearby; he had to assume that Yui wasn't much of a girl with an interest in dolls than some other girls her age were likely to have been. Beside that picture was one of Shinji, apparently having a heated conversation with the white-haired girl that was somewhat like the Second Child.

"…Silver or lead, Noelle," he looked up and thought he heard Shinji's voice just now.

"Did anyone else hear that?" He asked.

"I did," went Kaji. "Shinji said 'silver or lead'."

"He was saying it to her," Ritsuko pointed out to the white-haired girl.

"…You'd be surprised at what I learn from my grandmother, aunt and uncle when my parents aren't the best source of wisdom, considering their absence," they heard Shinji's voice again, like he was in the room with them. "It's derived from the Spanish phrase 'Plata o Plomo'. Basically, it only works when there's usually someone more powerful, more influential, or just outright dangerous, and they give someone else two options. Only two potions: They can either accept a bribe and look the other way, the option of silver…or end up dead somewhere and forgotten about, the option of lead. You're given the choice to do something that goes against your conscience or lose everything else because someone else felt threatened by what you could do, even if you didn't know who they were, just so that they could keep their position of power or something similar."

-x-

"…What choice would you make," Noelle asked Shinji that morning by the lake, "if you had to do something that was…against your conscience?"

"First, I'd reevaluate everything, weigh every option," he explained, "and then, deciding on the choice that will follow me to the end of my days, I'd tell the person that tried to bribe me into taking the easy way out that they can take that way themselves, because there is no true way to benefit from something that comes at the expense of another's pain and suffering. So…I would take the lead…and turn it against the people that intend to use it on me."

"Sounds like something you'd do."

"Well, you did ask me, Ms. Noelle Silva. And this is something that can happen to anyone, no matter who they are, where they're from. And from how Tenshi tells me, only a coward or someone that has nothing left to lose and everything else to gain…would take the bribe that promises something, even if it's only a little of what one really wants rather than fight back, even if it seems hopeless. You, you're a noblewoman, so you never have to worry about losing much of anything. Your family is of a high status in the kingdom. Me, I'm somewhere in the middle, looking to find my way and live my life however I choose. I could've joined the Golden Dawn like my mother did, but instead…I chose the one squad I actually want to be a part of because it will give me the foundation I need to reach the top of the metaphorical mountain in front of me. Instead of what might've been the easiest route to take, I wanted the route that gives me a challenge to overcome. You have a challenge you want to overcome, too, don't you?"

Noelle was taken aback by his question.

"What do you mean by that?" She demanded him.

"You want to become better," he explained as he got up off the ground…and walked onto the water. "Last night, Guardian came out of my grimoire again and insisted that I do some more training with him. Since I wasn't tired, I accepted his suggestion, and on the way to the lake here, he stopped for a moment, looked up at the hideout. I asked what he was doing, and he told just me that one of my squad mates will be at a crossroads…and that I would have to decide whether or not I would help them choose the path they want to take. Maybe he knows more than he lets on, but I think he was referring to you. So…do you have a personal challenge you want to overcome in the future?"

Noelle thought back to the earlier days of the previous year before House Ikari returned, when she was still struggling to get a grasp over her magic control. All she had was one spell during that time at her disposal, the Sea Dragon's Nest, and it was only good for defensive purposes.

"I want to control my magic better," she expressed. "I want to become better."

"Need a sparring partner?" Shinji offered.

To be continued…

A/N: Until next time, I'll let you readers wonder what choice Noelle will make in the future regarding what her elder siblings are trying to make her do for them. And as for Shinji knowing what he knows, who's to say that Rika, Tenshi and Suki, that is when they saw him for as much as possible, didn't impart him with their knowledge accumulated during their exile from the Clover Kingdom, and he took their knowledge more than anything his parents could've hoped to impart him with, which would've been less than what they had? See ya.


	20. Impress Me

Creation began on 04-28-19

Creation ended on 04-28-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Impress Me

Water Magic, one of the four primary forms of magic associated to the four elements of the universe, and Shinji just found himself sinking to the bottom of the lake beside the Black Bulls' hideout because he offered to be Noelle's sparring partner.

 _I didn't call her out on it,_ he thought as he looked up at the glossy world around him. _I wouldn't call her out on it, either. But whether she owns up to it or not is up to her. I expect nothing but honesty from her. Arrogance and vanity, those can be bad if taken to the extreme, and Grandmother says that the majority of the nobility in the Clover Kingdom possess both in excess._

Shinji didn't say it to her, but Guardian had confided something else to him about Noelle, and that was how she longed for the acceptance of her blood ties, something that he could relate to a degree to. He could understand a little about how acknowledgement from one's relatives made a big difference to one's self-esteem or performance, how they could either encourage or support one to continue to reach a certain goal. He used to want his father's acceptance, but after the discovery of how his and his mother's goals were disturbingly similar regarding the use of the Eva that had been turned into a spell inside his grimoire, Shinji knew then that he needed to stop seeking what he was never going to obtain from Gendo, which meant there was no point in even thinking about him. But Noelle…reminded him of how much he had desired such because she wanted the same thing from her family, those three elder siblings of hers that gave him the creeps because of their faces and behavior.

 _Guardian says to put my faith in Noelle's ability to decide what the right outcome shall be,_ he continued to think as he sank, now starting to feel slightly light-headed, _and I do trust her to make the right choice. Whatever choice she makes will be the right one. I trust you, Noelle Silva._

-x-

"…So what are you going to do about this?" Guardian asked Noelle as she looked at the lake where Shinji sank. "A human can only hold their breath for so long before oxygen deprivation causes harm to their brain, even with magic, since Shinji is waiting for you to decide what you're going to do."

"What?" Noelle went. "You're not going to save him?"

"Shinji instructed me not to," Guardian told her. "That would defeat the purpose of your sparring session…and he actually wants to trust in your judgement."

"Trust in my judgement?! But he doesn't even know me! How can Shinji trust me to do something that will save him from drowning when he doesn't even know a thing about me?!"

Guardian walked out onto the water and turned to face her.

"Because Shinji knows what you're dealing with," he told her. "Silver or lead, Ms. Silva, silver…or lead. Shinji doesn't know the whole thing, but I told him of your difficult situation that you've been placed in concerning your family, and despite this revelation, he refused to question or call you out on it. This…is his silver or lead challenge regarding you in your goal to become a better witch. Seeking to be friends with you, the only member of House Silva that he would dare to call a friend, that is his silver…and risking death itself, which is his lead. Which will you choose for him? Will you be his silver…or will you be his lead? Will you save him…or let him die…just for the acknowledgement of people that disregard you? Either way, I doubt Shinji will find it within himself to hate you over this predicament. Since, in a sense, his death would set him free from a fate he needs to be free from."

"What do you mean? What would Shinji's death free him from?"

"A false destiny, one that is too cruel, even for him to endure. Still, whether he lives or dies now…is up to you. You decide…and see how you both end up rewarded in the end."

Noelle looked at the water, unable to see Shinji, but unsure of what choice to make. To be his silver meant saving his life with her poor control over her magic, and even if she did save him, there was a chance that he could still die, meaning she'd end up as his lead.

"He believes in you," Guardian told her, "just as he believes in every member of this squad of people he sees only the barest echoes of people from his past that brought him to you. No matter how reckless you are, no matter how difficult you can be, no matter how flawed, he chooses to believe in each of you. Whether you know it or not… Whether you believe it or not, all of the Black Bulls, including you, have impressed him. Believe in him…and the belief you have within yourself…will be greater than you can possibly imagine."

 _He believes in me,_ Noelle thought. _He believes in me, in all of us. What was I thinking? Why did I do this to him? Why did he let me do this to him?_

Her grimoire opened up…and a new spell formed in its pages.

-x-

Shinji reached the bottom of the lake and looked up at the glossy world above. With only a few precious seconds of air left in his lungs, he decided not to blame Noelle for her hesitation if she chose not to do anything; she was placed in a difficult position, and the pressure of any difficult position could make anyone hesitate before doing something.

 _At least I got to see the winter season,_ he thought, unwilling to let negative emotions be his final thought as he felt the onset of oxygen deprivation begin.

Flash! Something bright lit up the world above for a second, and Shinji thought he saw something like a giant snake coming towards him.

-x-

Burst! A water dragon emerged from the lake and held an unconscious Shinji it its left claw, having pulled him from the water.

It set him down on the ground in front of the Guardian of the Void, who used his tail to turn him onto his back.

Noelle, drenched in water herself, got on her knees and shook Shinji, trying to get him to revive.

"Shinji?" She spoke, hoping that he could hear her. "Shinji?"

But he didn't stir.

Her grimoire turned a page…and another spell formed in the pages. Looking at it, she widened her eyes at its properties.

"Water Healing Magic," she uttered, "Mercy of the Sea Goddess."

A tall, feminine figure in a flowing gown and wielding a large staff made of water appeared in front of them, and she raised her staff up before placing its bottom atop Shinji's chest, causing a small, blue glow to appear for a few seconds.

A gurgling noise came…and Shinji opened his eyes and rose up to spit out some water that found its way into his throat.

Cough, cough! He coughed as he refilled his lungs with air.

"What happened?" He asked, looking around and seeing Noelle, Guardian, and a woman made of water with a staff. "What? Noelle, is this…is this one of your spells?"

"Yes," she answered him. "A Healing Magic spell, Mercy of the Sea Goddess."

"Thank you."

He slowly got up to his feet and slumped against a tree.

"You knew?" She asked him, referring to her family predicament. "You know that I could've just let you drown in that lake, make it seem like an accident…and you did nothing to stop me?"

Still catching his breath, he turned to face her and said, "If I went and told you, do you think that I'd be able to trust you, knowing that you could've did what you said you could've?"

"Why?"

"I rather earn your trust than simply demand it. Your status as a noble…means nothing to me. I want us to be friends, Ms. Noelle, meaning that I should be able to trust your judgement, regardless of what others believe…and that you can trust me to do the same. And it doesn't change that I'm willing to help you train more to control your magic…if that's what you want because, in the end, if I had to do this all over again, knowing what would happen…I would."

Noelle couldn't believe this! Shinji had risked his own life, his own future…on a leap of faith with her. He chose to risk it all…because he believed in her, that she would make the right choice and save him from dying.

"My family…hates your family," she revealed to him. "I don't know why they do, but they do. My big brother, Nozel, contacted me last night, and suggested that I should make it so that you and Suki were in some sort of accident. I thought if I did that, then they would start to accept me, but then…you…you were putting your trust in me, that I impressed you, and…"

"Impress me," he cut her off. "Present tense, because you still do."

"Why?"

"Where some can see the Black Bulls as a group of the worst mages imaginable, I have to see something that is likely overlooked, and that is the squad's potential to prove everyone wrong about them. And I believe you can prove your siblings wrong, too. So, my next question to you is…are you still up for training to control your magic…and are we friends, Ms. Noelle?"

Noelle sighed…and extended her right hand to him.

"Friends," she uttered, and he shook her hand.

"In the end, you both got the silver," Guardian expressed.

To be continued…

A/N: Okay, I didn't expect to get through this at around the same time I made it, but I guess that's what happens when you have motivation to do so. What do you think of Noelle having obtained two new spells, including a Healing Magic spell? I would say that this puts her almost on par with her siblings, if only by a small amount.


	21. The Strength to Mend Wrongs

Creation began on 04-30-19

Creation ended on 05-05-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: The Strength to Mend Wrongs

Walking down the streets of the Noble Region town, Rika Ikari immersed herself in the world her family abandoned in favor of the Forsaken Region where the people weren't so…self-centered or stressed over how the nobility deserved to be at the top of everything. Truth be told, Rika saw some of the people of today's generation of nobles…and found them almost no different from the nobles of her past, the infuriating, the vain, the arrogant and greedy.

"What brings you here of all places, Rika Ikari?" She heard someone ask her.

Turning to her left, she met a man dressed in a rather-elegant suit, with slick hair glossed to make the brown hue it possessed stand out more to others.

"Just…trying to grasp on how much the kingdom has changed since my family's been gone," she expressed; it wasn't a complete lie, as she was doing her investigative research on how far the nobility had grown regarding their arrogance and disgust towards the commoners from lesser villages with no titles or special backgrounds.

"Some of us didn't take you for a…simple woman that doesn't want more like the rest of the nobility do."

"My years in the Forsaken Region have imparted in me a deep appreciation for what I have…and lost. Some people don't understand that the small things they take for granted…are the ones worth having."

"And yet, people should have more because they can never have enough."

Rika sighed and nodded her head in the negative.

"That's greed, and it's a vice that can lead only to grief," she told the man, and then walked away to resume her day.

"Oh, come on, Rika! Surely, you've wanted more than what you already have!" The man yelled.

 _Except the kind of wanting I think of is forbidden,_ she thought. _It's just not how reality should work for anyone, no matter who they are. If you try to undo something, you might end up doing something more dangerous._

" _Aaahh!"_ Rika heard a woman's scream from down the street.

"Huh?!" She went, looking down the street at some estate nearby. "That house…"

It was quite a large house, surrounded by a small yard separated from the rest of the neighborhood by a spiked fence. But something about this estate drew Rika to it, and it was something that was affecting her heart to its core.

 _The scream I heard,_ she realized, _it was a scream that happened years ago. Something bad happened here, something that shouldn't have happened to someone that didn't deserve it._

Then she took out her grimoire and the pages flipped over to the desired spell she was after.

"Memory Spirit Magic," she uttered as her grimoire glowed bright pink. "Mnemosyne's Historic Guidance. Reveal to me…what had transpired."

A young woman with brownish hair and wearing a green dress appeared before Rika, holding a book of her own. She was none other than Mnemosyne, the Spirit of Memory, and she was one of Rika's two magical spirits, as she was among the rare few of her family to possess unique circumstances that afforded her access to more than one.

"It has been too long since we last saw one another, Rika," Mnemosyne uttered to her, and then raised her left hand towards the estate as a small cloud of reddish-black dust enveloped the limb. "What transpired here…was of death and greed, heartache and loss, despair…and desperation."

In front of her eyes, Rika saw a family of four, a husband and wife and their son and daughter, happy and content, but then saw the husband and wife fall at the hands of several nobles that took advantage of them, and cast their children out onto the street.

"Mnemosyne," Rika spoke up, her eyes shadowed by the sadness she witnessed as the family before her was ruined by the greed of other nobles, "which family was this one?"

"House Adlai," the memory spirit answered her. "But…you don't know these people of this family that lived to the present. They don't know you, either."

"Still, it's not right, what was done to them," she told her. "They didn't do anything wrong, and these…nobles…ripped them to bits. They didn't even care what happened to their children, just as long as they never came back here. You tell me I shouldn't do what I think is right and resolve this, knowing I should try to, and you know I'll never forget that I did nothing to help those that were still alive and were robbed of what was theirs to begin with because a few people decided to be greedy."

"You know I can't tell you to disregard your own heart, Rika. And it's true, what happened to this family, the descendants of one of your friends that became among the nobles you were lifelong friends with, was unforgivable…and they deserve what was taken from them returned to them. How will you go about this?"

"Excuse me, ma'am," they both heard a man inside the estate speak to Rika as he came over, "is there something I can help you with?"

Momentarily, Rika's eyes widened as she recognized the man from the memories of this estate's history, but returned to normal as she backed away.

"No, sir," she responded, her voice masking her contempt and developing agenda. "I'm afraid there's nothing you can do to help me."

"Oh, my… Are you Rika Ikari of House Ikari?" He gasped, backing away as he realized who she was. "Uh, surely, I can't interest you in simply forgetting about what happened here a few years ago, can I?"

"Have you ever heard of a story about a dragon guarding a small village's treasure? There is a moral to the story…and you will learn of it, eventually."

As Mnemosyne faded away, Rika turned to walk away from the estate, leaving the man pondering what to do.

"Hey, you can't prove what happened here actually happened!" Rika heard him yell at her. "You've been gone for centuries and you're out of sync with today's generation!"

-x-

"…Water Wind Creation Magic," Shinji shouted as he faced off against Asta, Noelle and Luck during another sparring session outside the Black Bulls' hideout to improve their skills. "Typhoon's Unfriendly Maelstrom!"

From the lake, a large amount of water surged towards Shinji and became a whirlpool of energy that turned towards the three adversaries.

"Water Creation Magic," went Noelle, thrusting her arms out towards the approaching attack, "Sea Dragon's Roar!"

A large dragon head made of water appeared and surged towards the whirlpool.

"Lightning Creation Magic," Luck shouted as he unleashed a new spell that was only possible because of the extensive training with Shinji and Suki. "Lightning Armadillo Pinball!"

A ball of electrical energy surged from Luck's hands and assumed the form of a large armadillo, which then rolled into a ball that shot like a bullet towards Shinji's magic attack.

CLASH! The three attacks collided and it appeared as though Luck's was strongest, but then Noelle's Sea Dragon's Roar pushed through the Typhoon's Unfriendly Maelstrom because of the electrical add-on of Lightning Armadillo Pinball, taking aim at Shinji's head.

"Uh-oh!" Shinji gasped, flipping through pages for a defense spell. "Transformation Magic: Soften the Blow!"

A ray of light shot out from his grimoire and bathed the dragon in a strange energy, reducing its very form…into a blue gelatin that doused Shinji completely.

"Whoa!" Asta gasped. "Incredible!"

Shinji, covered in a small pile of gelatin, emerged from it and looked at the three combatants with a smile.

"Yuck!" He spat out some of the gelatin that got in his mouth. "Blueberry… Why'd it have to be blueberry? I should've made it taste like grape."

As he climbed out of the pile, Asta had come over and brandished his Demon-Slayer Sword at him menacingly.

"Do you yield?" He asked him, and Shinji raised his arms up.

"Asta of Anti Magic," Shinji had called him this designation not too long ago, "I admit defeat. That would raise the score to eight wins for beating me and eight defeats for being unable to get to me."

Several clapping hands were heard, and the four mages turned to where several of the other Black Bulls were, applauding their training session.

"It took three minutes and six seconds for you to beat Shinji this time," said Suki, keeping track of their score. "You broke your past record by two minutes and forty-three seconds."

"Let's change the rotation a little," Shinji suggested. "Who's next?"

Gauche got off a tree and opened his grimoire.

"I will defeat you, Shinji Ikari," he expressed.

"Not unless I defeat him first," went Vanessa.

"No way," said Magna. "He's mine."

Shinji brandished his Anti Magic katana at the three and uttered, "A guy with a broom that looks like a custom-made aircraft, another guy that talks about his baby sister a lot, and a…a… Hey, Suki, what's the best word to describe Ms. Vanessa Enoteca?!"

"Uh, a minx," Suki suggested, "or a diva, even."

"Something that's nicer, please!"

"A boozer!"

"Oh, that's wrong, auntie! She's not a (Shinji turns to look at Vanessa, who pretty much represented what Suki said down to the fact that she was still indecent and holding a bottle in her left hand)… Actually, yeah, that works. Boozer, it is. Okay. Let's see where this goes with Fire Magic, Mirror Magic and Thread Magic. I will reduce you to ashes, sever your reflections and stitch you into a quilt."

"If that's supposed to be a friendly threat, you need to work on it," said Magna to him.

"Begin!" Suki yelled, clicking on the stopwatch she had to keep track of the time for each training session. "Go, Shinji!"

-x-

Nean, a commoner's village, didn't seem too wealthy or too poor in the eyes of Rika as she arrived on a broomstick. She sighed as she looked up at the church in front of her.

"What are you doing, Rika?" She asked herself as she stepped inside of it.

Inside were several children helping to tidy the place up, and it put a smile on Rika's face to see them active.

"May I help you, miss?" She turned and saw an elderly woman in a nun's habit, an old scar over her left eye.

"I'm just…trying to decide how I'm going to do something I probably shouldn't, but should do, anyway," she told the nun, bowing her head to her. "Because if I don't do it, who else will?"

"Some would seek forgiveness for a sin that is yet to be committed," the nun told her.

"I…I wouldn't call it a sin, per se; the actual sin was committed long ago. It doesn't have anything to do with me, but I…I feel that it didn't need to transpire just because some people that actually were involved…got greedy."

"Why don't you sit down first?"

Rika sat with the nun and looked up at the three-leaf clover in front of the church.

"Tell me, what is this problem you see that needs to be resolved?" The nun asked her.

"Have you ever heard of the noble House of Adlai?" Rika uttered, and the nun quietly gasped. "I take it you have."

"What do you know of House Adlai?"

"Only what I found out earlier today. Beforehand, all I had were my past memories of a woman who was related to the family. I know that years ago, the parents died, but I just discovered how and why…and am trying to decide whether or not to let the authorities handle it…or if I should."

"Sometimes, it's best to let the authorities handle these things."

"Yes, except that, only from past experiences, those of the nobility have their own way of dealing with problems they don't want others knowing about."

"But…you're also of the nobility. You just live in the Forsaken Region."

"I guess part of the reasons for my family living there is to not be consumed by greed. Why is it that nobody is content with their lives unless they have more of everything there is to be had? Why behave that way? Why…want? Wanting is just…the negative aspect of needing things. It is how greed gets started; the moment you see something, whether you already have something like it or not, you become possessed by the desire to want more."

"Those of the nobility have the power to do as they please."

"But…if one had the power to try and make things right for people that did nothing to deserve the cruel fate they were dealt, even if others did nothing to show them any sympathy or regret…then shouldn't they at least attempt to do so, even if others feel they shouldn't?"

"I'm afraid that's a choice…that only you can make."

"I don't know the House Adlai of today like I did in my past, but that doesn't change the fact that I still care about those related to the people I knew back then. They don't owe me anything, but I… I feel like I owe them what was taken from them. There's no form of magic, no matter how much it's desired by anyone, that could restore their parents, but if they could have back their home, it'd be a start to mending what was done to wrong them."

"And you'd do this for them…because they were wronged…and nobody did anything to get them justice?"

"Yes…I would."

The nun stood up and faced Rika with a stern expression.

"Who are the people responsible for this wrong," she asked her, "and why did they do it?"

-x-

"Graaurgh!" Gauche grunted as he was blown off his feet and sent flying through the air, nearly hitting the ground were it not for the Cotton Magic of Charmy; he didn't expect Shinji to be far stronger than the kid denied himself to be. _He shattered my mirror._

"Whoo," went Vanessa as she got up off the ground. "That kid has more fire in him than a bottle has liquor."

As Magna got up and faced Shinji, said Magic Knight was glowing red with intensity as his Guardian of the Void grunted and snarled with ferocity.

"We," they both spoke together, "are the victors of this round."

Suki, unable to click the button on the stopwatch, dropped it and announced, "Game, Shinji, set and totaled."

Shinji then dropped to his knees as his glow ceased, panting.

"Whoa," he went, looking down at his grimoire that showed the page of the last spell he used against Magna, Gauche and Vanessa. "Time Fire Magic: Delayed Explosion. It must be another powerful spell that I just used for the first time. It may be a little too powerful for me to use."

Yami, also present as he watched the squad mates rotate their training sessions against Shinji, who seemed a lot stronger than he had suspected him to be. To get where Shinji had gotten after joining the Magic Knights, and to be capable of defeating a former Magic Knight through a conversation…and then a few rogue mages from the same group, Yami started to suspect that Shinji was more powerful than he knew…but was holding back in order to aid in his squad mates pushing past their limits. It would explain how several of them had gained new spells…and a little more confidence.

"You're…a lot stronger than you know, Shinji," Gordon said to Shinji, speaking a bit louder in order to make himself heard.

"Thank you, Gordon," Shinji responded.

Suddenly, Shinji was ganged up on by Charmy's Sheep Cooks.

"You need to eat more!" Charmy told Shinji as her Sheep Cooks started shoving food into his mouth, despite his attempted complaints that he was going to choke from the force-feeding if he didn't get any air in his lungs.

-x-

Despite being a Magic Knight, it was his day off because of the lack of activity from the Eye of the Midnight Sun, but this didn't keep Tenshi from being active and out in the community. So as he was visiting the village of Sosshi, he received a call from someone on his Communication Magic Tool.

"Who could be calling?" He wondered as he noticed how the village lacked benches outside to sit down on for rest; this probably stemmed from being a small town with few people. "I gotta put in a request for work to be done on these to install different sounds to indicate who was calling who, similar to the cell phone."

"Tenshi, are you free to talk?" Rika asked him as her face appeared in his device.

"Yeah, I'm free," he answered her. "I'm in Sosshi in the Forsaken Region. How can I be of service to you?"

"I'm in Nean in the Common Region. How soon can you get here?"

Tenshi opened a rift in space and walked into it, ending up in Nean, right in front of the church his mother was beside of.

"How's about now because of Spatial Magic?" He questioned.

"Thank you," Rika praised him. "Can I trust you to trust my judgement?"

"I trust your judgement, Mother."

"Thank you, Tenshi."

"I might be a Magic Knight, but my loyalty to my family and friends will always be a constant in my life. What is your situation that requires my services?"

"A past wrong that was committed against another family," said an elderly nun that stepped out of the church. "Thank you for coming, sir."

"Believe it or not, I used to look older than you and wasn't able to walk, anymore. There's no need to address me as 'sir'; I'm not as old as I am right now. Please, call me Tenshi."

"Chronologically, if you are over a certain age, I must address you as 'sir'."

"And if I were to request for you not to, as I feel it is unnecessary?"

"If you can deal with this matter, I will make you the exception."

"Consider the matter dealt with, then. What is the matter?"

-x-

"…Aw, man," sighed Shinji as he collapsed on his bed after dinner. "I just want to sleep off my aches and pains until the next mission, should it ever come."

"All that you need is a few hours to recuperate," Guardian stated, crouched down against the right wall be the door. "You are improving with your skills in the magical arts, as are your fellow squad mates."

"Thank you."

"Also, the way you encourage them to become stronger, without so much as boasting your own abilities, it isn't entirely different from those of your predecessors, the members of House Ikari that wielded the grimoire you now possess. They, too, never boasted of their abilities, but were undeniably strong, as were their friends and allies."

Shinji got up in his bed and looked at Guardian, needing to ask a question that was serious.

"The people that once had my grimoire before it came to me," he went, "just how many were there? I mean, how many predecessors before I was chosen to wield the grimoire?"

"Before you were chosen to wield the False Destiny Breaker, there were twenty-four owners of the grimoire. You are the twenty-fifth."

"What were they like? Did you know any of them?"

Guardian raised his head up slightly higher and said, "I knew all of them, and each one, men and women, were able to do things they never thought they could do. They all had several things in common, but one thing they had above all was that they were bound by a fate they were doomed to fulfill unless they deviated from it by another course of action or desire."

"What do you mean?"

"Break the ties of a fate undesired by you, and you embrace the true power of destiny. Destroy the chains of the hopeless reckoning, and the future becomes one of unknowns, the possibilities…and impossibilities…become endless and yours to decide upon."

"I…I don't understand."

"You will in due time. You're still learning the ways of magic, and like all lessons, the mind must be trained to grasp the teachings. It's okay if you don't understand it all right now. You…have all the time you need to understand everything. Sleep now."

Then Guardian fell to sleep.

 _Sometimes, I forget that I'm a long, long way from where I used to be,_ Shinji thought, and turned in for the night.

-x-

"It looks like Shinji's helping his squad mates get stronger at what they're able to do," suspected Misato as she saw the picture of Shinji and Guardian talking in his room.

"And his uncle is helping his grandmother take care of a problem," added Asuka, looking at a picture of Tenshi and Rika looking down upon a man that didn't look like he was going to walk away from something serious.

Rei then turned the page, and saw a picture of Shinji with the strange man that had a mirror with him in front of the leader of the squad they were in, who appeared to be reading a letter.

"What's going on here?" Kaji questioned as he looked at the picture underneath to see Yui in her personal space, building something that was obscured from sight. "Why is nearly every picture that has her in this different dimension has her doing something that we can't see?"

"You make it sound as though she's up to something," Gendo stated; from the looks of things, he suspected that his wife was trying to build another Eva through the use of magic, but it followed the sense of science that originally led to its creation, only at an accelerated pace.

"Well, we haven't seen her exactly being…social in the same way that the rest of her family appears to be," went Misato, stating what had to be the truth; despite their only seeing small glimpses into the world the Ikari family was in, when it came to socialization, it appeared that Yui herself was at a position beneath her mother, who spent her time socializing with people from the lesser-known villages than the larger ones that seemed more popular and well-known. "If anything, she seems to want to spend as little time as possible around others unless there's a situation that requires her attention."

"Sometimes, that's the life of a scientist," said Ritsuko; sometimes, the life of a scientist alienated them from other people that simply didn't understand them.

"Maybe that's part of how Shinji developed his respect for his uncle when he was older and in a wheelchair," Kaji suggested, looking at an old photo that had a little Shinji with the elderly Tenshi looking through old manga of the science fiction category. "The guy's like an otaku or a fan of fiction more than science."

"He is an otaku," Gendo spoke; he rarely spoke with the three elderly people, but Yui had mentioned how her brother wasn't a person of science, even in the slightest, like they were. "How does any child gain respect for an old man that spends the majority of his time accumulating nothing but make-believe?"

Asuka wanted to answer that Shinji was clearly the type that had respect for his uncle in that regard, but focused more on the next picture on the right side of the pages, which had Shinji and the guy with the mirror flying somewhere in the air.

"That creature that comes out of his book," she uttered, surprised by what it was doing. "It can fly when it has wings?"

-x-

Shinji was worried about why a church in the village of Nean requested his presence alongside Gauche as they flew across the wilderness to the destination. He had gotten a map of the kingdom so that he could memorize the locations of towns and villages, but hadn't been to them all just yet, so he hadn't a clue as to what Nean was like.

"Hey, Mr. Gauche Adlai," he spoke to his squad mate on the broomstick on his left, "have you been to Nean before?"

"I have," he answered him, sounding detached.

"What is it like?"

"It's a commoner village. My sister lives there."

"What about your parents?"

"They're dead."

"I'm sorry."

Guardian, sporting dragon wings on his back for flight due to a magic spell, looked at Gauche and wondered what was going on in his head.

"It is probably nothing, but nothing is for certain," it uttered to them.

All they really knew was that Shinji's grandmother and this Sister Theresa Rapual had sent a letter to the Black Bulls requesting the presence of himself and Gauche as soon as they could get there, but Yami didn't disclose anything beyond that. It was probably because there was nothing else to disclose until after they had arrived in Nean.

 _Barely two months into my occupation as a Magic Knight, and already the sense of dread is looming upon my shoulders,_ thought Shinji as a few buildings came into view. _That must be the town. That must be Nean._

It seemed like a quaint place to live for anyone that sought to carve out a small life there. There was no indication that there was a degree of crime of any sort here, whether it was assault or kidnapping, meaning that you could live here without much trouble.

"It's…really nice here," Shinji expressed as he and Gauche arrived.

"Yeah," Gauche responded as they walked towards the church where they noticed four people standing around outside.

"Uncle Tenshi?" Shinji went, confused at why his uncle was here with his grandmother.

In front of the two members of the Black Bull squad were Sister Theresa, Rika and Tenshi Ikari, and a little girl with blond hair and purple eyes, wearing a purple dress.

"Hey, Shinji," Tenshi greeted his nephew when they got close enough. "Look at you. That robe looks better on you than that crazy plugsuit."

"Thank you," Shinji replied. "What are you doing here? Some sort of mission?"

"I wish. I was requested to help resolve a matter that needed to be dealt with, and now that you're here, it can be dealt with in its entirety."

The little girl looked up at Shinji and gave him a smile.

"How are you today, Mr. Magic Knight, sir?" She asked him.

"Uh, fine. People just call me Shinji. What's your name?"

"Marie Adlai."

"Adlai? You mean…you're Gauche's sister?"

"That's right."

Shinji then bowed his head to her.

Theresa led them inside the church, where she took them to a small room where a man was waiting, tied to a chair with a piece of tape on his mouth.

"Who's this?" Shinji asked them.

"Shinji Ikari, meet Jacob Scorpio of House Scorpio," Theresa introduced him. "It would seem that, due to unfortunate circumstances, House Scorpio had a rather depraved history with House Adlai that extends back over five years ago."

Gauche looked at Jacob Scorpio, recognizing his face from years before, feeling a measure of anger at him more than he did at the other nobles of that time.

"This is the man that took everything our family had," he expressed, wanting to hurt him right there and now.

"We know what he did, why he did it…and who he had to help him to do it," Rika told Gauche as she sat down in a nearby chair. "He's confided in us a lot after Tenshi brought him here a few hours ago to make him confess his sins."

"He actually thought his position as a noble would protect him from me," Tenshi explained, "but unlike some Magic Knights, I don't let any crimes committed slide, even old ones that were never fully documented, or accept any bribes. He actually tried to buy my silence…so I asked for Sister Theresa's forgiveness after I punched him in his gut."

"Mmm…" Jacob mumbled through the tape, still feeling the residual pain he was under from getting punched by Tenshi.

"And why ask us here?" Gauche asked them.

"Trying to mend a great pain and rectify a greater injustice that was committed against your family," Rika answered him. "I don't know you or your sister at all, but I knew someone from your family from a long time ago. I respected them greatly, so I respect House Adlai just as well today as I did back then. House Scorpio hoarded away the wealth belonging to your family along with three other noble houses with assistance from ten noble houses affiliated with them…and now Mr. Jacob Scorpio here…is going to give it all back to the people he helped to take it from."

Tenshi then approached Jacob and removed the tape from his mouth.

"House Scorpio," he uttered, "House Wendell, House Solaris, House Rispetto, House Oro, House Bestia, House Bourne, House Tennyson, House Ceres, House Webs and House Trios deceived and stripped the wealth of House Adlai, House Granite, House Aether and House North. We would steal their wealth and divide it amongst ourselves, leaving the families, children and all, destitute. When trickery didn't work or people refused to cooperate with us, we would stage accidents and falsify the transfers of inheritances."

"Meaning, you killed Mr. Gauche and Ms. Marie's parents," Shinji stated, "just so you could take everything that they worked to obtain or simply inherited from their families?"

"Yes," he answered. "House Ikari, you people are a legendary pain in the butt of the nobility. Anyone that's heard of you feared your return and what you could do, whether you were still remnants of the nobility and royalty yourselves or reduced to being peasant descendants. And anyone that still held out on the hope that you would return were the ones that still held the greatest respect for you and your wretched…family losses."

"Our family losses?" Tenshi questioned, and Shinji heard the shift in his tone go to bad. "Our family losses?! We didn't lose anyone that night the other noble families decided to attack us. They stole our loved ones away through murder. We can't really lose people unless it's to natural causes. People that are murdered, that's no different from kidnapping, except they're taken and sent back to their maker way before their time. And you know the agonizing part of having survived that for over fifteen-hundred years? The people responsible for their deaths have been dead and gone for as long as we've been in exile, so we can't exactly get any closure by seeing them get dealt with to the fullest extent by the law, and that's a bit of a drag. But we don't have any grudges against their descendants, even if some of them are nothing more than a bunch of jerks that prefer to hold meaningless grudges or nurse senseless vendettas that don't have anything to do with them. For all I know, you could've been a distant relative of one of those families…and I wouldn't come after you for the deaths they caused…simply because you had nothing to do with them. That would be guilt by association; you hold one person of a family responsible for a wrong they committed, you hold the entire family responsible, and it wouldn't matter if they are or were elders on their deathbed…or babies yet to be born. We don't do that. How do you live with yourself, knowing the lives you harmed? How do you sleep at night?"

Tenshi then walked away out of the room.

Shinji sighed and excused himself from the room to follow Tenshi.

"Just so that you know how fortunate you are that my son decided to step out," Rika told Jacob, displeased with his choice of words, "he came close to putting his hands on you violently. Maybe too close, and you would've saw a side of him that was extremely unpleasant. So…my piece of friendly advice to you the next time you speak to anyone…is that you watch your mouth."

As of right now, Jacob wasn't sure who to be more afraid of regarding the Ikaris. Should he be afraid of Rika…or her son? To him, both current leaders of the noble house's survivors and intermediary descendants…were frightening.

-x-

Shinji found Tenshi on the roof of the church, sitting on the ledge, looking depressed.

Tenshi turned to look at him and sighed as he turned away.

"I wanted to reduce his head to pulp with my bare hands," he told his nephew, needing to be honest with himself about how close he came to harming the nobleman. "A black eye or bloody nose just wouldn't have been enough."

"Personally," Shinji responded, "I wouldn't have blamed you if you did go too far on him. I must've noticed at some point in the past, but I never brought it up because I never thought much on it. Whenever I would see you three on my birthday, on Suki's birthday, you and Rika would sometimes have this look on your faces that seemed hurt. You hide the hurt by thinking about other things, other people. It hurts a lot to be reminded that they're all gone, doesn't it?"

Tenshi nodded and said, "It hurts more than any physical blow ever could. Before any of it ever happened, it was just a happy day. Everyone was excited when Suki was born, everyone that was there wanted to see her. We didn't just suffer the loss of family that day, Shinji. We lost friends that day, too. Kana and Mana, your twin aunts, they had friends from neighboring villages over to see Suki. Friends of our parents were there to give their blessings. Our grandparents' friends were helping to keep other people's kids calm, and I…I…"

"Who were you with?" Shinji asked when he saw his uncle's hesitation to continue.

"I was with my girlfriend," he answered. "I had invited her over not only to see Suki, but because I wanted to ask her something. We…we knew each other for eight years, and it was serious. If any other noble ever asked me if I was content with the fact that she was just a commoner, I'd answer that love conquers all, regardless of one's status."

"What was her name?"

"Lilia. Lilia Yuki. She was a… Well, she was the equivalent of what you could call a snow hippie's daughter, but that was only because her mother gave her a last name of her own."

"What were you going to ask her that day?"

"I'm pretty sure you can guess by now what I was going to ask her."

"I could be wrong, though."

"Just guess, then."

"You were going to ask her if she'd marry you afterwards, weren't you?"

"Not bad for your first guess, and yes, I was going to ask her that."

Shinji sighed and sat beside him.

"How'd she… I mean…what happened that night you were all attacked?" He asked.

"Fire Magic turned violent on the trees and our home, Steel Magic made disastrous wherever steps were taken, and Poison Magic spreading through the air to limit our actions. Mages from noble families that didn't agree with our beliefs that commoners would eventually be just as powerful and adaptable as we were out to get us, and anyone that just happened to be with us were to be treated as nothing more than collateral if they were in the way. Lilia and I were separated, but I never saw what happened to her. I never even heard her scream. My only prayer was that she survived that night, even if she was the only one. I would've been content with just that; nobody that had no direct involvement with us deserved to die that night."

"I think if I had been alive during that time, I would've liked her a lot."

-x-

"…Hey, Gauche, I… There are no hard feelings about over what happened all those years ago, right?" Jacob asked as Gauche looked down upon him like a diseased being that couldn't be human. "I mean, uh…nothing…that is…personal from you and your sister, right?"

"You killed our parents, sir," he responded, unable to mask his contempt, even for his sister's sake. "You killed them for their wealth, threw Marie and I out onto the streets, and you dare to think that I don't have any hard feelings over any of it? If Marie weren't in this room, I'd make you run for your life. But instead, I'll let House Ikari decide how to deal with you. Your presence now disgusts me."

Gauche then left out the room, followed by Marie, who looked at Jacob and nodded her head in the negative at him before leaving.

"May the kami have mercy upon you and the other families that hurt others for your selfish greed," said Rika to him.

-x-

"…Looks like justice was served," went Fuyutsuki, looking at the picture of Rika looking down at the man tied to the chair as the man with the mirror and the little girl left.

"Yeah," agreed Misato as she turned the page to the next series of pictures. "Looks like this…Gauche Adlai and his sister have regained their family home and wealth that was stolen from them."

The new picture at the top of the left page showed the two siblings resettling into their home for the first time in many years. The second picture underneath showed various people behind bars. One the right page, there were four pictures that showed Shinji resuming his training sessions with the other members of the Black Bulls, Suki in a kitchen with Charmy, Tenshi walking through a wood, and Rika sitting alone with a cup of tea in front of her, respectively. It appeared that some time had passed since that day in the town, and people were trying to get back into their routine.

"Looks like the people behind bars were once people of power and means, but they lost everything because they got too greedy," Fuyutsuki deduced on the people in one of the pictures.

Gendo then turned the page and saw a picture of Yui engaged in conversation with a man in a tacky mask that was the captain of the squad she and Tenshi were part of.

-x-

"…I was surprised to hear that more than five noble families were involved in such a horrible series of crimes against other noble families," William told Yui, "and that your brother was requested by your mother that day this was brought to people's attention. It's also a surprise that your mother didn't call you."

"I'm not the least bit surprised, sir," Yui explained her explanation. "Tenshi is older than I am and is familiar with the nobility. Plus, I don't know any of the noble families, including the ones my family was said to be on stable ground with prior to and after leaving the Noble Region to live in the Forsaken Region. I'm still studying the list of nobility that reside within the kingdom during my off days. It would be understandable that our mother would request the assistance of my brother rather than I or another Magic Knight."

"And how goes your history course regarding the nobility?"

"The nobility here aren't entirely different from the people of my world are. The upper-class men and women, these so-called elitists, members of the aristocracy, even those that come from old money or come into new money, people that come into power that spans generations."

"And your family, House Ikari, has been said to come from royalty that spanned at least eighteen generations before the Clover Kingdom was even founded. If any were to try and compare them to the other royal families, such as House Silva or House Vermillion, they wouldn't get past the base due to this Infinity Affinity that you all possess."

"I believe there is more to my family than a mere attribute that enables us to use multiple forms of magic, sir. There are only five of us, but I don't believe we're at all special because of this variety of magic that exists."

"Why is that when over fifteen-hundred years ago, there were over twenty of you?"

"As much as I believe in magic today, I still consider myself to be a woman of logic; whatever does not make sense must be forced to make sense, otherwise what is the point in trying to justify what may or may not be true about it?"

William got the feeling that Yui was unlike the other Magic Knights that were around, including Yuno, but because she was still starting out, he allowed her the benefit of the doubt.

"Anyhow, this revelation of the corruption within the nobility has been split between the Golden Dawn and the Black Bull squads," he informed her.

"Why is it split between the two squads?" She asked him.

"A member of House Adlai, one of the noble houses that was stripped of their wealth by the corrupt houses, is affiliated with the Black Bulls, and this revelation was also witnessed by your son, who was also present when this discovery was made."

 _Shinji was most likely needed to vouch for whoever this House Adlai member is that's affiliated with the Black Bulls,_ Yui suspected, believing that it was nothing but a coincidence that Shinji was involved.

"Do your best to protect the people and reveal the hidden truths, Yui Ikari," William told her as he dismissed her. "There is greatness in your future."

-x-

"Come on, Asta!" Shinji yelled, watching as the Anti Magic aura being generated by his squad mate was very low, barely emanating from his body. "I know you can generate a larger aura than that! Frighten me!"

Asta, wielding his Demon-Slayer Sword in front of Shinji, growled as he concentrated harder on his Anti Magic. The purpose of this sparring session was to unleash more magic as a form of intimidation without consuming too much mana, or in Asta's case, since Anti Magic was the negative to the positive of other forms of magic, too much of his energy and leaving him unable to defend himself later against an enemy. If they could all increase their magical levels by a substantial amount, they would be able to fight on par with other Magic Knights that were of higher ranking than their own.

Shinji found it a bit odd that out of the majority of the Black Bulls, only Finral, Gordon, Charmy, Gauche and himself were First Class Junior Magic Knights. Everyone else was either a Fifth Class or Third Class Junior Magic Knight. It might've explained why the Black Bulls weren't so popular or in the same league as the other squads, like the Golden Dawn or Crimson Lions. It might've been mere luck and skill that enabled them to face a handful of mages from the Eye of the Midnight Sun, but if they were going to face the Third Eye again in the future, and all three of them were a force to be reckoned with due to their reversals of faith, hope and love, they needed to be stronger and tap into deeper pools of mana. They didn't need to be the best, only better than they were the last time.

Asta gripped the hilt of his sword and tried his best to be intimidating towards Shinji, whose Guardian of the Void behind him clearly had a look of an unimpressed individual.

"Grrr!" He growled.

"Focus more on drawing your connection to the Anti Magic forces out of you through your sword," Guardian uttered to him. "There are layers upon layers of Anti Magic energy asleep deep within you…and ever since you acquired the Black Clover grimoire, all you've done is scratch at the surface of the first layer. The layers are like armor comprised of solid stone, and when you break through the layers, the energy unleashed flows through you unchecked. So long as it flows through you without restraint, you can call upon it at will. Again, I shall demonstrate."

Guardian raised his claws up and conjured a sword of his own, large and glistening like dark glass, unlike Asta's swords, which retained their dark coloring while the rust and dirt was cleansed from them.

"Your Guardian of the Void seems to demonstrate a lot of personality for a being summoned through a spell!" Asta told Shinji.

"Yeah, but that's the thing that keeps surprising me about him," Shinji responded. "The spell just summons him. What happens afterward is entirely up to him."

"Is that right?" Noelle, who was among the other squad mates present, including Suki, Charmy, Vanessa, Finral and Gordon, watching the sparring session take place, asked.

"Intelligence," Shinji stated. "Independent thought and action. Because Guardian is able to think independently like people can and therefore control himself, his own power has no boundaries."

"That is because I am alive, the same as any of you," Guardian stated. "I'm just not the same as any of you. I have no connections to magical spirits or ties to those of royal blood. My ties are to House Ikari…and whoever is chosen to wield the grimoire that came to Shinji. Therefore, my ties are to him more than anyone else."

Guardian's aura grew massive, becoming purple and shaped like a larger version of himself in front of Asta.

"Reach deep within!" He roared at him. "Pull that energy out of your heart! Control the magic that lies within you and bend it to your very will!"

Suddenly, Asta's sword started to glow a dark red…and dark markings began to spread across his arms up to his face.

"Aaaaurgh!" He howled, feeling a measure of energy surge through him the likes of nothing he had ever felt before.

His aura was dark red, as well, and had grown to a considerable range of two feet around his body, adding a measure of increase to his toned muscles.

"Whoa," Shinji gasped quietly, feeling intimidated by this new form that Asta had unlocked just now. "How do you feel, Asta?"

Slamming his right foot into the ground, Asta made an indent into the soil and uttered, "I feel incredible! Is this how it feels to have unchecked energy flowing through you at all times?"

"Well done, Asta of Anti Magic," Guardian congratulated him. "You've managed to unleash your power from within…but can you control it as good as you unleashed it?"

Clash! Their swords collided, and Shinji felt the minor strain Guardian felt from Asta's brute strength, like it was actually him getting the brunt of it instead of Guardian.

"You're strong," Guardian praised Asta, "for a human that most underestimate because of your degree of magic. If you keep this up, you may one day realize your ambition to become the Wizard King."

"What about Shinji? Doesn't he want to be the Wizard King, too?"

"There's no chance of Shinji being that ambitious, even though he could if he wanted to. His ambition is more towards his ancestral background than the future. A powerful mage, he seeks to become, but not the Wizard King. To become a part of the pantheon of the strongest of mages in his family, that…is his goal. They were all good, the best of their generations, and he seeks to be like them."

"How do you know this?"

"I know everything I need to know about Shinji. His fears, his desires, even the limits of his ability to be disgusted by certain things and people…and you're among those that don't disgust him, which makes you very lucky."

Then Guardian dropped his sword and grabbed Asta's, pulling it from his hands and tossing it aside before grabbing Asta by his right shoulder and lifting him off his feet.

"Are you more than just your swords…or are you dependent upon your swords?" He asked him.

Asta, still glowing with the markings on his arms and face, grabbed Guardian's wrist and managed to flip him off his feet.

Slam! Guardian went down like he weighed only as much as a small child did…and smirked at Asta's minor victory over him.

"You're good," he praised him, "unfortunately, I'm better."

Swat! Asta was struck in the back by Guardian's tail, knocking him out.

"Ooh!" Suki gasped, not expecting Guardian to use a sneak attack.

"Expect the unexpected," added Finral.

Shinji came over to Asta and helped up to his feet, his face and arms free of the dark markings.

"Not bad, Asta," he told him. "Next time, we need to be prepared for sneak attacks. Don't ever expect your adversary to fight fairly."

"You're tough like Yuno," Asta told him as they walked back to the hideout, "but you're more talkative than he is."

"Yeah, I guess I am."

To be continued…

A/N: Well, there's your answer to what was to happen regarding Gauche and Marie Adlai, along with at least three other noble families harmed by at least eleven other noble families. Gauche and Marie have all that was taken from their parents back in their possession and the people responsible are going to be in prison for the time being. And then, there's Tenshi revealing that he had a girlfriend in the past prior to House Ikari's survival exile; this was in case some of you were wondering why it seemed like the guy never settled down with anyone…and now you know why. As always, read and review. I look forward to the next chapter, whenever it'll be.


	22. Shinji's First Mission

Creation began on 05-05-19

Creation ended on 07-03-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Shinji's First Mission

The sky was a dark shade of red, with purple clouds and blue lightning, and at the center of it all was Yui Ikari, dressed in a white lab coat with her grimoire unleashing an unprecedented degree of magic.

"Accept this, Shinji," she uttered to her son, who stood a good distance away from her with his Guardian of the Void, looking worse for wear, with his Black Bull robes barely hanging onto his exhausted shoulders as he held his sword. "I have."

"This will never be accepted, Mother!" He yelled at her, just as a bolt of lightning struck two feet away from him. "You lied to me!"

"I didn't lie to you."

"Yes, you did! You told me that you were going to give life here in the Clover Kingdom a chance! That you would see how people here live, that you wouldn't try to screw things up! But you're trying to screw things up! You will never change! You need the whole world to change in order to suit your liking!"

"This is for the future, Shinji."

"Then it's a bad future…and an unwanted one, too. I don't want your bright future any more than our family does. It's poisonous…and you're spreading it across the kingdom as fast as you can until it can spread further across the world, leaving no soul untouched. I'd rather give up my life than to live in your so-called bright future, Mother!"

Those words really hit close to home for Yui to hear from her own son. She blamed her mother and siblings; they turned Shinji away from the fact that this was necessary and couldn't be averted. But she still needed to show him that everything that was happening had to happen because there was no other choice.

"Destroy his Guardian, Eva," she uttered, and from behind her, a large, armored humanoid charged towards Shinji and Guardian.

"No!" Shinji yelled again as Guardian, slightly larger and covered in grievous injuries ranging from the lacerations on his arms to the impalement holes in his sides and a bloody gash on his forehead, charged towards the abomination the keeper of the False Destiny Breaker grimoire was trying desperately to escape from in his past.

CLASH!

"Gaaahh!" Shinji gasped as he awoke from his slumber, finding himself on the floor of his room, drenched in sweat. _What was that? Was I…was I fighting someone?_

Getting up, he found his grimoire on the desk in front of his bed, opened to a page that had a spell he was suspecting had been active while he was asleep.

"' _Time Dream Magic: Perceptions of Conflict'_?" He read the spell that was likely what caused his dream that he couldn't recall. "But…why can't I remember what happened?"

He closed his grimoire and realized that his pajamas reeked due to his sweating whilst he was asleep and grabbed a cleaner pair of clothes and headed towards the men's bath.

"You do realize that your sweat got on my body, as well," he heard Guardian speak to him, causing him to forget that he was also in his room and had a tendency to self-summon from his grimoire whenever he chose, not just whenever Shinji desired him to, and was currently living in his room with him in the Black Bulls' hideout.

"Guardian," he responded, having forgotten that he was near, "I forget that you're quiet sometimes, so I didn't know you were there, here."

"No, your head was plagued by a dream you can't recall because it was attacking the part of your heart where you keep your doubts and dreads."

"What do I have to doubt or dread about?"

"That…is something only you can ascertain."

"Because…you can't see the future, is that right?"

"That's right. No perceiving the future, only the possibilities."

"Right…"

-x-

"…It looks like Shinji had a nightmare that he can't recall," said Fuyutsuki as he and everyone else in Gendo's office saw the page with photos depicting Shinji in some sort of struggle that was obscured by darkness.

"Whatever it was," went Misato, "it must've been something too terrible for him to comprehend, so he forgot about it the second he woke up."

Asuka turned to the next page in the album and saw a photo of Shinji with Guardian in the communal bath with Luck, who seemed to want to fight Shinji, who would rather relax than engage in conflict at the moment.

" _That's why I have Guardian,"_ they all felt like they heard Shinji's voice as they saw the photo on the right page depicting Luck getting held up by his neck by Guardian, who then sat him down on the other side of the large tub while Shinji continued to relax where he was sitting…until he sank under the water.

"Well, he seems to be taking it easy for the time being," Asuka said, and looked down at the bottom of the pages, seeing Rika Ikari in some village that clearly wasn't the one she was living in where her house resided. "I wonder what she's up to."

-x-

"I've been looking for you, Tenshi," Rika informed her son as she found him in Sosshi Village, helping some people build a new house.

Tenshi, assisting with carrying some stacks of wood for the men, looked over at his mother and placed the stack down.

"Nothing wrong with serving the people in non-magic ways," he expressed as he walked over to her. "Also, I had to confirm something that made no sense to me earlier."

"Oh, and what might that be?"

"I think I might be experiencing a temporary side-effect of our rejuvenation. My magic is heightened in a way that affects the majority of my spells."

"Elaborate, please."

"Well, I have tried a dozen of my earlier spells from before our exile, including the two required to summon Excalibur and Arachne, and as I did so, I was measuring the amount of magic necessary to maintain each spell, discovering that they were barely using a fraction of my magic. Last time, I would feel a few minutes of fatigue every time I used twelve spells or four spells a dozen times in a day or two, but now… I'm using ten different spells…and I'm not feeling the slightest bit of fatigue. Why is that?"

"I was wondering the same thing, Tenshi, and went to the Noble Realm to see a specialist in the field of mana manipulation. What I found out was unexpected."

"And what did you discover?"

"You, Suki and I have been gone for so long and forced to use our reserves of mana so sparingly when we were in Japan, one of the places in a foreign world where mana is so scarce that it's nonexistent that our bodies were forced to adapt in an economical way…and that's permanent. We can still use magic, but now most of our spells require less power than before. In a sense, we mutated magically during our exile."

"Did you make sure to get a second opinion, Mother?"

"I did, but it was the same as the first one…and third…and fourth: We use magic to a lesser degree…but still get the same results…if not better."

"Well, that's certainly going to help and hurt my chances of rising in the ranks of the Golden Dawn. One of the nobles in it has been looking down at me like something is wrong."

"Someone of the nobility that is egoistical, one that believes that the nobility are all that matter in the world?"

"More like self-righteous elitism when I choose to say it that way. I think the guy is a noble that cares so much for the old ways that he can't or won't settle for less than the best."

"And you, Tenshi? Are you anything like that?"

"If I can't move past my limits and get better at what I do, I will take the path of second best and settle for what is over what could've been."

"To achieve victory, you must sometimes admit defeat. So…have you been to any of the other villages since you became a member of the Golden Dawn?"

"Yes, but only six of them, including Sosshi here, in both the Common and Forsaken Realms. It turns out that some of the Magic Knights from other respectable squads have been…lacking in their duty of serving the people, so when I'm not on a mission for the Golden Dawn or training with Shinji or Suki, I visit these villages and assist in whatever is needed of me to do."

"Thank you for your selfless service, Tenshi."

"As a Magic Knight and as a man, I must be dutiful and able. To overlook the needs of the people overlooked by the world is to admit in silence that their lives are insignificant, which is far from the truth. I look at these people…and I see men and women that have the potential to rise above members of the nobility and royalty and change the world."

"You keep doing what you're doing, then, and show the people that they can change the world."

Tenshi bowed to his mother as she turned to leave, but then she noticed something from a distance that caught her attention.

"Have you been building benches, Tenshi?" She asked him.

"Yes, Mother," he answered her.

"Magically or non-magically, and don't lie to me."

"Non-magically; not everything has a magic solution. Not everything needs a magic solution."

Rika smiled at her son and bowed her head to him before leaving.

-x-

Luck, trapped in a Trap Magic spell designed to inhibit his Lightning Magic, looked down at Shinji as his opponent openly declared himself the victor of this training session.

"Water may conduct electricity, but it also grounds out electricity," Shinji told him. "Luck, you came closer than I can admit to winning the match, but your combat lust is quite high, almost insatiable. You could probably face a small army…and it'd be like an appetizer."

The trap spell ceased and Luck was freed, catching his breath.

"Again," he pleaded to Shinji. "Come on, let's go again. Maybe I'll defeat you this time."

"Not right now," went Yami as he stood beside the two, surprising Shinji because he didn't feel his presence near him. "The both of you and Suki, Asta, Noelle, Finral and Gordon have an assignment from the Wizard King to do, immediately. Reports of a sea monster attacking at random over at Raque, and you seven are going to deal with it."

"I have a mission to help with?" Shinji questioned, feeling elated; with the exception of training with the others in the Black Bulls and facing the Eye of the Midnight Sun, Shinji felt like he wasn't going to get a chance to prove his worth to his squad. "Finally, as I've been restless."

"You have been rather restless with your free time," said Suki to her nephew.

"Too restless," added Guardian, who saw the signs earlier than Suki had; there was only so many things one could do with their time while waiting for something to happen that would call upon them to do their duty as a member of a society that was charged with protecting the free people from harm, and practicing with magical spells was one of those things.

"Hold on, Raque?" Shinji suddenly realized something. "What sort of place is Raque?"

"Oh, you'll love it," went Finral. "It's in the Noble Region by the beach. Hot sun, pretty girls, it's like a dream come true."

"It's basically a resort area where people go to relax," Suki expressed. "I take it you've been to Raque before, Mr. Roulacase?"

-x-

"…Why in Gott's name does it look like that idiot is on vacation now?" Asuka demanded, seeing on a new page where it looked like Shinji and his aunt were with some of their squad mates on a pretty beach, staring out at the ocean.

"It's hard to tell if they're actually on vacation, Asuka," went Kaji to her. "They'd have to be sipping on cool drinks and sunbathing or trying to get a date with a girl that's probably on vacation there."

"Shinji doesn't seem to be on vacation there," Misato suspected, pointing to a photo at the bottom of the right page, seeing Shinji sitting on some rocks looking out at the ocean. "As he's in a place where magic exists, he's likely on an assignment or has to deal with something that requires his attention."

"Still, he gets to spend time at a nice place with a beach," Asuka retorted as she turned to the next page.

The next set of photographs displayed the beach at night, and in one photo was Shinji with his Guardian…accompanied by Suki.

-x-

"I think you've been out here for almost five hours, Shinji," the boy heard his aunt say to him as he turned to face her. "Sitting on these rocks for a long time is bad for your bottom, you know. You get bruises."

Suki, dressed in an oversized turquoise shirt with dark blue Crocs on her feet, had the look of a girl on vacation, but also had the look of someone that was ready for bed. This made Shinji shudder as he turned away.

"I'm not good with waiting for something to happen," he admitted to her. "To hear that a sea monster is attacking random people that go out into the water is making the town uneasy. If something doesn't change soon, the people will fear the water."

"You're taking this situation quite serious, Shinji."

"I don't want to be thought of as taking it easy when there is a sense of danger lurking. Only after the danger has passed, when the threat is dissolved and the peace has returned…will I feel that I can relax."

"Work before pleasure, a move that shows how those that do work don't have a one-track mind, how they don't focus solely on one thing over another. Well, while you, Guardian and Asta were out here looking at the water, I asked for Noelle and Gordon to help me gather information from the residents here that have seen this sea monster a few times. Some of their claims are inconsistent, but we were able to find comparisons to at least eight of them."

"And what comparisons were you able to find?"

"Four identical consistencies: The creature is big, serpentine, has a greenish-blue coloration, and causes a fog to form just before it makes its presence known."

"That's good intel, Suki. Thanks for sharing it with me."

"You were fortunate you weren't out in the town, though. There were three Magic Knights around from another squad that weren't exactly doing what we're trying to do here."

"Oh, is that right?"

"Yes, though, it seems that there's been a misinterpretation regarding the name of one the three. Noelle actually called this guy 'Ha-Hah', which made absolutely no sense, whatsoever…until the guy went and laughed about something he found funny. It turns out his actual name is Sekke Bronzazza of the Green Praying Mantis squad, and he's a complete jerk."

"Huh? That makes twenty-seven now."

"What?"

"You've mentioned twenty-six other people that you referred to as being jerks, with twenty-five of them being dead or close to it."

Suki went wide-eyed; she had forgotten about her list of people she believed to be jerks ever since she was restored of her youth. To know that Shinji kept track of her list was a surprise, too.

"Excluding the twenty-five, who is the twenty-sixth jerk?" She asked him, trying to make sure he remembered her list accurately.

"My father," he answered.

"Right… You do know I was old when I said that. Well, older."

"But it was the truth. My father is a jerk. One that you wished you had called him out on."

"At least he's the one jerk that didn't try to do what that Bronzazza jerk tried to do with me."

"What did he do? I mean, what did he try to do?"

"He tried to hit on me, and he didn't even know me."

Shinji suddenly felt his left hand ball into a fist, the joints in his fingers creaking, though his expression remained the same, albeit a little contorted with anger.

"Uh, Shinji," Suki went, "are you alright?"

"Um, yeah," he responded, putting his left hand behind himself.

"Momentary anger over what some stranger tried to achieve with you," said Guardian to her. "But you had zero interest in this member from the Green Praying Mantis, both as a Magic Knight and as a person."

"That's right. Anyway, I wasn't going to have anything to do with Mr. Bronzazza, so I pointed to my robe's insignia and made him see that I was with the Black Bulls and that he should get to stepping if he knew what was good for him. Unfortunately, he was hard at hearing, so I summoned Grizzly Mayhem to make him see that I wanted nothing to do with him. He practically soiled his pants before he ran off."

"Yeah, your Grizzly Mayhem is frightening enough to make some people mess their pants up when they see her claws."

"I've seen several men around here…and the craziest thing I know in my heart to be true…is that just like when I was in Japan, I'm not interested in any of them. How odd is that? Even when I'm back in the world I was born in, and I feel good, like I actually fit in around here, there's no guy here that I actually fancy."

"Maybe one day a guy will ensnare your heart, Suki. You're pretty, you have a great personality, you're a Magic Knight starting out, and… Well, if I could, I'd give an award for best auntie."

"Thank you, Shinji."

Guardian looked at Suki, seeing her possibilities for romance, and saw one such possibility that might've led her to a happy future in her rejuvenated existence.

"What?" She asked him.

"Nothing," he answered back; it wasn't anything he had to say to her right away. "Your physically-regressed age is an imperfect add-on to your wisdom. However, to obtain a future full of the potential for happiness, one must have weathered through one experience after another, including those that leave a sour taste in the soul."

"Where'd you learn that from?" Shinji asked him.

"Angelique Ikari, the tenth wielder of the grimoire you possess, also the fourth woman in the line. Some said she was a Healing Magic extremist when it came to injuries that threatened the very lives of those around her."

-x-

"…I don't think he's moved an inch from that spot since we showed up here," said Asta to Finral and Noelle when they noticed how Shinji hadn't left the rock formation after they arrived to Raque.

"Since this monster only appears by the water," went Noelle, "he's acting as a watchdog, on the lookout for it. He's…committed to doing what is required of him."

"If he gets to face it before I do, he better save some for me," Luck expressed.

"Shinji wants to prove his worth," said Gordon, a bit more coherent than before. "He's done nothing but train and train us when we spar with him."

Suddenly, they heard a female voice from a distance, singing a mysterious melody (A/N: It's the same melody that Kohano sings) that had them listening as the waves came and went on the beach in front of them.

"Who is that?" Noelle asked.

Then, they saw Suki get up from where she sat by Shinji and wave her arms around as she was suddenly walking onto a small formation of water that floated in the air.

"Suki can sing?" Asta questioned. "It's…beautiful."

"Yes, it is," Luck agreed.

"She's like an angel," Finral claimed, mesmerized by the girl's singing.

-x-

"…Do…any of you hear singing?" Misato asked everyone in Gendo's office.

"Yeah," answered Kaji. "It's beautiful…and haunting."

One of the photos depicting the Clover Kingdom showed Suki singing in front of Shinji, who appeared mesmerized or comforted by it. Another showed several of the people from the same squad as them also listening to her singing.

 _There is nothing special about her singing,_ thought Gendo as he looked at the photo showing Shinji, who looked like he was enjoying his life in the Clover Kingdom where there was no need for the Eva because there were no Angels around to fight.

 _I could never understand why,_ he heard his son's thoughts in his head, _but every time Suki and Grandmother would sing this song, I always felt cheerful and safe around them. I could forget about my loneliness and pain after my parents… It just felt better around them._

"Even when he didn't spend a lot of time with them," went Misato, "he enjoyed their company to the point where he felt no pain."

"So, the song is an old tune," added Asuka. "Old…but one that idiot likes to hear."

Fuyutsuki, unsure if Shinji was even going to move past the point of where he stood with his parents if this song helped him to forget about their absence when he was little, turned to the next page, and saw a picture of Yui, who was looking outside the window of her room, looking like something heavy was on her mind.

"I wonder what she's up to with her time," Ritsuko wondered out loud.

Rei looked at Yui, who seemed very different from her son and other relatives. It was like she was so distant from them that it was safe to say they were on different planes or ships.

 _The integration of this world's magic into the science I specialize in would be ground-breaking if properly harnessed._ _That Anti Magic creature that came out of Shinji's grimoire, that…Guardian of the Void…might be more dangerous than I suspect it to be, even if it exists under his control. There is a lot about Anti Magic that nobody here knows about…except my mother, perhaps. But she's like the rest of the family: They dwell within a place that shows no need for science in any heavy sense because this world has an abundance of this metaphysical energy they call mana…and the worst thing of it is that they can't see past how beneficial the energy would be for more ambitious goals._ Rei thought she heard the woman's voice in her head.

"What is she going on about in her own head?" Asuka asked.

"Something scientific, probably," suggested Fuyutsuki; he had a feeling he knew what Yui was thinking about, but chose not to say for certain.

Under her picture was one of Tenshi, who was walking down a forest path, eating an apple, looking up at the full moon.

On the right page was one of Rika, who was sitting at a table in her house, eating a small meal, looking as though she was depressed.

"I know that look on a woman anywhere," said Kaji, referring to Rika.

"And what look is that?" Misato asked him.

"That's Empty Nest Syndrome."

"What?" Asuka questioned.

"The woman's lonely because she's by herself and her children and grandchild are away. Any parent would feel that way after awhile."

Of course, all eyes had to turn to face Gendo, who, as a parent himself, would've been either subject to this belief…or one of the exceptions because of his estrangement from his son.

"Don't be ridiculous," he told them. "Only an infant needs to be coddled."

"Funny, the way you say that," Misato countered his belief, "since it seems that Shinji doesn't mind the attention he gets from Suki or Tenshi or Rika. Maybe he likes being coddled by them."

Rei looked back at the album and turned to the next page.

Zap! For a brief second, she saw something that seemed impossible and unlikely because it defied logic and societal order.

Shinji, with his aunt, in a field of petals on a sunny day, and then, despite the wrongness of it, Suki had gone and crossed her boundaries as his aunt…and kissed him.

Rei pulled her hand back from the book and backed away from it.

"Someone may keep Ikari-Kun from wanting to come back here," she stated.

"And who might that be, Rei?" Ritsuko asked her.

"Someone," she responded; it wasn't an answer…but it wasn't what she felt to be a truth, either.

Ritsuko then turned the page for them…and saw…a monster rising out of the ocean.

"What in God's creation is that?" Misato demanded, seeing Shinji and the other members of his squad facing the creature.

-x-

Basically, nobody was at fault for this. All Suki did was just sing the same song her mother had taught her how to sing when she was little, a timeless tune from long ago, and one Shinji enjoyed listening to every chance he got, and then the sea monster appeared as a fog formed above the water. It was everything the Black Bulls had discovered was right about it in the four consistent details that were right about it so far.

A big, serpentine creature with a greenish-blue coloring that caused fog to form just before it appeared. But among the newest details were its menacing red eyes and serrated fangs.

"Whoa!" Asta gasped, brandishing his Demon-Dweller Sword. "This thing is huge!"

"It's not that big," Luck declared, "but it looks big enough to bring back to the hideout."

"Is that a leviathan?" Noelle went.

"Wait, a leviathan?" Suki repeated. "Noelle, have you seen this creature before?"

"I read about them three years ago. They're supposed to be solitary creatures that live deep in the ocean. The only time they ever come close to the surface…is when someone with a lot of magic intentionally summons them."

"Someone with immense magic called this creature here?" Asta questioned. "Who'd be crazy enough to call a creature like to cause trouble?"

"Whoever did this has to follow one crucial rule to summoning a leviathan: They have to be close by just to summon the leviathan and once they're gone, it leaves."

"Maybe that's not the only way to dispose of a leviathan," said Guardian to them, looking at the creature, "and this one isn't likely to stand idle while we look for whoever summoned it."

"Is there a limit to the range of the magic required to summon a leviathan?" Suki asked.

Shinji looked, but got the feeling that whoever was responsible for this creature had to be pretty strong and capable of summoning from a distance.

The leviathan looked down at these mages and then glared at the Ikari boy, baring its fangs.

"Grr-aah!" It hissed as a ball of ice shot out its mouth at them.

"Whoa!" Shinji gasped, and the pages of his grimoire flipped to the necessary spell he required. "Spatial Magic: Redirect!"

A portal opened up in front of them and the ball of ice was sucked inside and disappeared.

 _His Spatial Magic's impressive,_ thought Finral, feeling a bit envious towards Shinji's prowess. _And his Guardian was right about what he said to me… My doubt in my abilities reduces my success, like he knew what was going on, and he doesn't even know me._

" _Guardian doesn't need to know people personally to know what their primary faults are,"_ Shinji had told him once after he did more research in his grimoire regarding Guardian of the Void. _"Whatever he says is only a truth that is between him and whoever he tells it to. If he says that your doubt in your abilities is what reduces your success, then you need to let go of your doubt. The less doubt you have in yourself, the greater you are to achieve success."_

" _But I'll never be as good as my brother,"_ Finral had told him.

After explaining who his younger brother was to Shinji, Finral received a pep talk that wasn't what he expected from the newbie.

" _The day I meet your brother will be the day I get a better opinion of him and his capabilities. But until that day comes, I'm talking to the only Spatial Magic mage within the Black Bulls that I see as capable of being stronger and fueled by confidence. Why doubt your abilities? I mean, Spatial Magic seems like a very powerful gift that enables those that possess it the freedom to go anywhere they desire without limit. Even my uncle practices it as much as he can, sometimes causing minor explosions in the process, and he doesn't let any mistake, big or small, hinder him. So, tell me, Mr. Roulacase, why do you show doubt in your abilities?"_

" _Have you ever been compared to someone that was viewed as being greater than what you thought you could be, if not more? Have you ever been overshadowed by anyone that people thought would one day be the best and have the keys to the future?"_

" _Not like what you're saying, but go on."_

" _Being compared to and later overshadowed by someone causes a lack of confidence and a feeling that you don't ever get over completely. And with my family, it's more complicated than I care to admit. When Langris and I joined the Magic Knights, he got into the Golden Dawn and became the vice-captain…while I joined the Black Bulls and…well, here I am."_

" _Why do you make it sound like it was the worst outcome for you?"_

" _The outcome was that he got picked as the heir apparent for House Vaude over me because of his success. After that, I accepted that I could never best my brother and should just spend my time doing what I love, which is…having fun."_

Of course, Shinji had to ask this question to Finral, which was only possible because he spent months training with Tenshi and Suki for the Magic Knights exam, building up his own confidence and gaining more tolerable experience being around others, and it was, quite possibly, the most intense question Finral had ever heard him ask.

" _But are you really happy this way?"_ Shinji asked him. _"I mean, it's not my business to trespass upon your past, but does your current lifestyle give your life the meaning you seek from it?"_

" _Wouldn't you be if you were freed from your family's expectations?"_ Finral had once countered his question with one of his own.

" _It would depend upon what their expectations of me were…and if they truly had any for me to start with. But to answer your question, no, it wouldn't. Not unless I was actually happy with what I was currently doing at that time. And what I had been doing originally before I even wind up here…didn't really make happy…and knowing that my parents wanted me to do something of the sort that didn't put a smile on my face… While it didn't make me question what they were up to in the beginning, my time here, less than a year it has been, has helped me to question it now. I either had to be a part of a twisted plan they came up with years ago…or just an attempt at their playing with life like it was a game they were making up. And this was back when I didn't have any dreams or ambitions. Now, I just want to pursue being a mage like those in my family are and were. That's…all I really want right now. It's simple and it would make me happy. And whatever transpires along the way to achieve that ambition would also make me happy."_

It wasn't until this moment, in the midst of adversity against a sea serpent that could only be summoned by strong magic, that Finral, despite his internal, personal insistence that he was happy to be free from his responsibilities of being House Vaude's potential heir, accepted that he wasn't happy. He wasn't happy that he let his doubt in his own abilities limit his success, that he was reduced to being just a means of transportation, that his squad mates didn't respect him as much, despite the fact that he outranked some of them. And more importantly, he wasn't happy that he allowed this to be his lot in life when he could've done more to make it better for himself and his squad. While he might've been a nobleman that was cast out for not being anything like his younger brother, he was a nobleman that wanted to be seen as being different from his brother, if not greater than him.

" _If you embrace your ambitions, show strength in your convictions,"_ Guardian once told him as he told the others, _"then you unlock a strength you didn't know you possessed."_

His grimoire floated by him, flipped through a few pages, and a new spell presented itself to him.

 _This is a new Spatial Magic spell?_ He discovered when he looked. "Here's something new. Spatial Magic: Reversal Summon!"

A large portal opened above the leviathan, bathing it in light. It then lowered upon the leviathan, making it disappear…and in its place…was Vetto of the Despair, who looked surprised to be in the presence of the Black Bulls present in Raque.

"What?!" He yelled, confused by this turn of events. "No! How is this possible?! I was too far from this place to be noticed by any of you!"

"We Magic Knights find a way to persevere," Shinji uttered, holding up his Anti Magic katana defensively. "But this is a surprise. I was expecting someone new, not a member of the Midnight Sun. What brings you to Raque? It can't be simply to take a vacation."

Vetto looked at the boy and his Guardian of the Void, sensing a degree of increase in their magical aura, and several of these other members of the Black Bulls, their magical auras had increased, as well. They were much stronger than when he faced them the first time when they found their base of operations. Frowning, he glared at Shinji, determined to make him feel the despair his people had to face when they were betrayed so very long ago.

"No matter," he told them, raising his claws up. "I don't need a leviathan to deal with you."

"That's a shame," went Suki, summoning her Grizzly Mayhem. "We're not the same as we once were when we first met. And you're outnumbered, too. No matter how strong you are, you're just one person…and we're a team. Can you truly hope to defeat us without assistance from the rest of your allies or the leviathan you called up?"

"Yeah," added Noelle, feeling confident because of her choice of words, "what she said."

"It doesn't matter if your forces are one or many," Vetto countered, "for soon, not one of you will be any left to tell about me!"

He jumped into the air towards them.

"Get him!" Asta yelled, and he, Shinji, Luck and Guardian jumped into the air to face him.

-x-

"Whoa," Fuyutsuki sighed at the picture of Shinji and his fellow squad mates going up against this Vetto guy that represented despair. "I know this is only a picture, but it looks like Shinji's going to war with this man."

"Yeah," Misato agreed with him, looking above the picture and wishing that it was the serpent he and his squad mates were going up against instead of some man that looked like a beast.

Asuka then turned the page and saw Tenshi standing in front of a…grave?

"They have cemeteries there, too?!" She asked.

-x-

It might've taken him a while to locate this place, but Tenshi had gotten results as he stood in the Clover Kingdom Cemetery of those from over one-thousand years ago. As it had been the law of the Clover King from generations past, all mages and people that died over the years were to be buried here, even if there weren't anything left of their bodies to fill a coffin or a jar. So, here he stood, facing the grave of one of his relatives that ended up here.

"It's been too long since I last saw you, Kana," he spoke to the grave in place of one of his sisters. "There were three of us when we went into exile, but there are five of us now, and you should know about your nephew on our mother's side. His name is Shinji, and he's… Well, he's quite special. He's part of the reason we're all back in the Clover Kingdom. He wants to be a good mage like the rest of us were back in the old days. We were quite the successes we were before that day we were attacked by the other families that hated us. I am hoping he succeeds in his goal. God only knows that he needs something worth doing that is his motivation and not the goal of someone else that had other things in mind for him. Oh, and Suki's with him, too. She's around his age now. Our mother restored us to the ages we were at our strongest, and Suki was regressed to her early-teens. They're both in the Black Bull squad. I know, they could've picked a better squad to join in, but it's the one they chose. I chose the Golden Dawn, the same as our youngest sister. Yeah, we have another sister. Her name is Yui, and she's Shinji's mother. Sometimes, I think she's more trouble than she seems. You should see her husband, Gendo. He is not someone I would consider a nice guy in any sense. He's more like people with bad ambitions and knows only to get on people's bad side. I know he got on my bad side when he kept our mother, Suki and I from getting custody of Shinji when his mother went and faked her death when he was less than four years old. I might've been in a wheelchair during that time, but I wanted to beat him to pulp for his arrogance. He had absolutely no concept of how important it is for families to stay together when tragedy strikes, preferring Shinji to be raised in the custody of a complete stranger and out of our reach. But as much as I don't like him for being the loser that he is, I have my concerns for Yui, who picked him as her spouse. She was up to something that wouldn't get her in our good graces if she had succeeded, but I worry that she might do something that ends up hurting a lot of people, including her son, simply because she chose to do it. I'd ask you for advice, but I'm going to have to go out on a leap of faith and hope that Yui doesn't do anything to echo her mistakes back in Japan where we were exiled to. It's not easy to trust her…and I can't trust her yet."

-x-

"…I don't see how she could trust any of you with your ridiculous fairy tales, you old prick!" Gendo shouted, which made everyone else in the office look at him like he'd gone crazy.

"You're yelling at a photo album," Ritsuko reminded him of how pathetic he sounded for doing such a thing. "Besides, it's not like he or anyone else there can hear you talk about them, just as it's unlikely that we can hear them say everything they want to about any of us."

"And he's just talking to a grave marker in place of whoever was buried there," Asuka stated.

"One of his sisters," Rei clarified.

"Yeah, one of them that was murdered prior to their exile."

Misato turned the page and they were returned to Shinji and the Black Bulls present dealing with Vetto of the Despair, who looked as though he were having a difficult time facing these people that looked like misfits.

" _We really owe it to Shinji and Guardian,"_ she heard Suki's voice. _"He brought out the best in us that he saw more than anyone else could."_

" _He said that everyone in the Black Bulls impresses him,"_ she then heard Noelle's voice, _"even when we don't look like we're anything special to most of the Clover Kingdom."_

" _A band of misfits and failures,"_ Gordon expressed, _"and yet, he chose to join us, even when there were other squads that seemed better and desired him. We'll defeat you because of him."_

-x-

Vetto couldn't believe his predicament right now. He was among the strongest in the Midnight Sun, the sole mage that specialized in Beast Magic…and he couldn't deal with these lowly individuals that kept evading his attacks and throwing him off with their own that were undeniably stronger than what he had encountered previously.

"Lightning Creation Magic," he heard Luck say, "Taser Fist!"

A large hand made of electrical energy formed from his magic and was sent towards Vetto.

"Beast Magic: Rhinoceros Armor!" Vetto countered, enveloped within an aura shaped like a rhino. "You underestimate my…"

SLAM! Luck's Taser Fist collided with his Rhinoceros Armor and sent him flying backwards onto the wet sand.

"Poison Magic: Crippling Hemophilia!" He heard Gordon call out one of his new spells as he got back up to fight.

A dark red blast hit Vetto, and he suddenly felt like his blood was on fire…and it hurt.

"Aaaaurgh!" He groaned as he stood his ground in front of these misfits.

"Way to go, Gordon," Shinji praised.

"Thank you," he responded.

"Water Restraining Magic," went Suki as she kept her distance from Vetto; while Gordon's Crippling Hemophilia turned an opponent's blood into a firestorm inside their bodies, they all had to consider that the spell couldn't affect mages of the strongest level for too long, requiring them to be restrained. "Ariel's Gentle Caress!"

Large hands of water formed behind Vetto and grabbed him in grip, unable to break free.

"I've said it before," Shinji expressed, "and I'll say it again, Suki: I will never underestimate the power of influential Disney media."

"Gaaaurgh! Grrraaurgh! Don't you wretched fools dare look down upon me!"

"It's hard to look down upon when you're two feet above us," Finral told him, showing confidence against the beast man. "So we're actually looking up to you due to the restraining spell being used on you."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, boy!"

"We've beaten you, Vetto of the Despair," Suki told him. "Right now, you only have two choices. The first choice: You surrender without further resistance, we take you to the capital, and you wind up in a prison cell awaiting a trial or what have you. Your second choice: You continue to persist…and we likely kill you in the process, something I really can't picture us doing…but comes with the position of being a Magic Knight. As a Magic Knight, I must do all in my power to make sure you're brought to justice…but as a person, I don't want to see you pay the ultimate price, even if it's likely that you do deserve it. So, I must ask that you make the former choice over the latter one."

Vetto, feeling his insides slowly return to normal, a sign of the Poison Magic spell he was being affected by wearing off, frowned at them and uttered, "Or there's a third option."

"And what might that be?" Noelle asked him.

Something formed in his left hand and unleashed a bright flash, blinding them.

"Aaah!" They gasped.

"I escape and live to fight another day," he was heard as the light diminished. "The next time we meet, I won't be alone."

"Damn it," said Finral in frustration.

"We should've checked him for any surprises," Shinji grunted.

"That was Light Magic, what Vetto did," said Luck. "How can he use Light Magic if his specialty is Beast Magic?"

"It was probably given to him as a failsafe," suggested Suki. "This…is both good and bad."

"How is this good and bad?" Noelle asked her.

"He couldn't best any of us on his own, so he fled out of desperation, meaning the next time we see him, he'll either be stronger or have aid, most likely the latter. It's good that we were stronger than he was tonight. What makes his escape bad…is the fact that we'll have to explain to Captain Yami why we were unable to get Vetto in a permanent hold."

"Technically, Suki," went Shinji, "our mission was to deal with a sea monster, not Vetto of the Despair. Thanks to Finral here, we dealt with the sea monster by exposing the culprit behind it, which was also due to Noelle's knowledge of the creature's behavior surrounding magic. If Vetto was the only one around to summon a leviathan, then it's likely we won't be seeing either around for the time being. The Eye of the Midnight Sun, the Third Eye and their leader, Licht… It's likely that we'll see them the next time they stir up trouble."

"And we'll have to be stronger to face them," said Asta.

"And we will be," went Guardian, looking out at the sea. "But why was he out here to begin with? What brought his attention to Raque? Most enemies don't take vacations."

"You think Vetto was here for something?" Gordon asked him.

"No action is without a reason. There is a feeling of magical energy associated with this place, something ancient and powerful."

This caught their attention, and they looked out at the ocean. If Vetto was here for something, then it was likely he'd return, meaning that this wasn't over just yet. But for now, they needed to return to base.

To be continued…

A/N: I know some are likely to say that something like this was not possible because of Vetto being an elf reincarnated, but the Black Bulls were strengthened because of their training sessions with Shinji and Guardian, along with facing certain issues that were keeping them from moving forward in their progression as Magic Knights, so they were able to best Vetto and even force him to flee.


	23. I will do what I must

Creation began on 07-03-19

Creation ended on 07-09-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: I will do what I must

A/N: Sometimes, people's convictions are not always the same due to individual desires, some not as tolerable as others can be.

Yui found the company of the other people in the Golden Dawn, including her brother, to be hard to comprehend due to their behaviors. It was as though these people, her brother included, had no idea how much science and technology had yet to be seen in advancement here due to their reliance upon the use of magic. She felt like she was the only person that believed in science and technology that could reduce their dependence on magic and they just ignored the possibilities. Not that she shared this with any of them.

"What's gotten you in a mood, Yui?" Tenshi asked her in the hallway of their squad's headquarters.

She turned to face him and answered, "I honestly don't get anyone here. They don't…don't seem too invested in advancement."

"You can't expect the people here to just open up to something that they don't understand the way you do so suddenly, even after you join a squad. It's just…not the way they adjust to change. Leave it alone for now. See the world the way they do, learn from them and discover the culture they grew up with."

"How do you get along with any of them?"

"I only ever speak with two of them. They're of the nobility, but they're tolerable towards people that don't live like they do or have any social status that's befitting of them. You know Klaus and Mimosa from our dungeon mission two months ago; they're not like the other members of the Golden Dawn. They're not…"

"They're not what?"

"Elitists, Yui. They're not elitists. They don't obsess over the nobility and their power and don't cling to the old ways."

"But your status is just like theirs; you're recognized as a noble…or royal…or whatever they choose to address you as, and you're clearly a lot stronger than you let on…but you act nothing like them."

"Everyone is different, Yui. If we all thought the same way, there'd be no individuality, no free will or sense of fulfillment in our lives. My nobility status doesn't change the fact that I prefer casual clothing over elegant ones, that I like to eat simple meals over extravagant ones that some believe that only the wealthy can possess the rights to consume, or that when it comes to my perception on people, I can't be biased about who deserves to be protected from harm…and who doesn't, who has the right to make something of themselves…and who needs to be kept from trying to make their ambitions a reality. Inequality is universal, but isn't absolute."

"You make it sound like it's possible for everyone to be equal, when it seems more like a falsehood belief than something else."

"I lived over fifty years in exile, and they were spent in a place where it felt like the people there literally ate mana more than they did regular food. You grew up around those people, and I had to see them in all their forms, good, bad, crazy, unstable, wealthy, poor, bright, dumb, angelic and creepy. And you know the difference between the people here…and there?"

"Surprise me, brother."

"The only thing different between them is that the people of the Clover Kingdom aren't all obsessed with something unrealistic or out of sync with the way the world functions…while some of the people back there in the other universe, in places like Japan, have the keys to the world and decide what's right and what's wrong, what is a rule and what is a crime, and what should be attempted over what should be ignored. Despite my position as an aged otaku, I'm a lot smarter than I appear, and that, along with my sense of alienation around various people, was probably the reason I never could feel like I belonged over there. It was a nice place before Second Impact, but after that catastrophe caused by the minority to maim the majority, the only good it does now is deluding people that miss the old days before the day half the whole world went away and devolving the younger generation with a damaged education system."

"I'm sorry, a damaged education system?"

"That's how Shinji described it when I asked him back in Tokyo-3. One of his school's teachers is an elderly man that drones on and on about nothing but the history that was after Second Impact, nothing about before, which is real history; World War Two, how Tokyo became the capital of Japan, regular chitchat about Nagasaki or Osaka. Just hearing the same aftermath story over and over again makes for a damaged education system; nobody of the younger generation was truly learning anything that would help them to fix any of the mistakes the previous generation made."

"You do know that you refer to the both of us when you say 'previous generation', right?"

"It depends on how you choose to view it. For some, it refers to those that leave behind information to help shape the minds of those looking to learn from their mistakes. For others, it's those that have children and try to steer them clear of the faults of the past. 'Previous generation' has many meanings."

"The previous generation was still trying to fix their mistakes, you know."

"That…also depends upon how one chooses to view their methods on how to fix their mistakes."

"And how exactly does a member of the previous generation fix their mistakes, Mr. Ikari?" They both looked behind Yui and saw Langris Vaude, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation. "How does a previous generation help to correct their own faults so that the younger generation isn't burdened with their transgressions until who-knows-when?"

"It depends upon the mistakes," Tenshi told him, being simple. "They can be anything, major or minor, simple or complexed."

"Oh, you mean, like the mistake two of your relatives made by joining the Black Bulls instead of one of the other good squads that don't bring shame to the Clover Kingdom?" He asked, referring to Shinji and Suki. "They could've chosen golden eggs, but instead they chose bad apples."

"My younger sister and nephew didn't shame anyone with their decision to join the Black Bulls. It was their choice, based solely on their personal perceptions of each squad. In what way was it a mistake for them to join that particular squad?"

"Look at the Black Bulls' history, and you'll see that they're a failing squad. They cause more problems than the problems that already exist. Each member is a disgrace to the kingdom, be it an unstable person with a fixation on battling, a royal that can't control her magic, a nobleman with a criminal record, a kid with no magic and my own brother, whose own magic is poorly developed. No matter how you look at them, they're a disgrace, and your relatives chose them."

Yui could've spoken, but there was nothing to respond about; her personal studies on the individual members of the Magic Knights listed several of the Black Bulls as mediocre mages at best, with their squad captain holding the rank of Grand Magic Knight, with all the other members being Junior Magic Knights, including her son and elder sister. And worse was that many of them had been with the same rank for several years, meaning none of them had done much, if anything at all, to progress further in the magical arts. But Shinji chose to join them, and the reason for why was beyond her. It wasn't like she could just come out and ask him why, out of all the squads that wanted him on their side, he would join the black sheep of the squads that offered no real promise of advancement.

"Well, I gotta give my nephew props for choosing the Black Bulls," Tenshi said. "They did the one thing for him that the other squads couldn't do after he picked them."

"Which was what, exactly?" Langris asked, curious to know himself.

"They impressed him."

"What?" Yui asked her brother. "They impressed him?"

"That's right. They impressed him…and they still impress him, regardless of their faults. It takes a lot to impress him the way they've done so, and in recent events, from what has been disclosed about the Black Bull member with the criminal record, he had his record expunged after the truth about how his parents were killed came out. And from what my nephew tells me, the royal that can't control her magic…has been making strides in her training with him since he started working each of his squad mates to the bone."

"Your nephew has been training the Black Bulls since he joined them? That's disappointing. Nothing is more disgraceful than working hard to become strong."

"A strong person that has known power all their life may eventually lose respect for it, while a weak person will learn of power's true value…among other things."

"You make it sound as though it's not a bad thing to be a weakling."

"That's because it's not a bad thing to be a weakling. You start out as weak…but over time, you gain strength and experience, eventually becoming strong."

"Sounds like hard work."

"Bitter work, yes…but it's only through that…can the expectant results be achieved and made worth the efforts thrown in."

Langris simply laughed it off and walked away.

"Whatever," he said to them. "In the end, nobody will ever be as strong as I am."

"Nothing lasts forever," went Yui. "Eventually, all things return to nothing."

Langris stopped at the way the lady Ikari spoke those choice of words.

Tenshi, despite his silent agreeing with the first half of what his little sister expressed, widened his eyes at the second half she uttered; it was just the way she said that seemed…horrid and…almost intentional.

"What was that?" Langris asked as he turned around to face Yui. "What you just said. _'All things return to nothing'_? Nobody says that…unless they mean to do something that is…unforgivable and inescapable. Does she mean to do just that?"

"My sister here has a tendency to…or rather, had a tendency to be blunt with her words," Tenshi stated to the young man.

"Blunt or not, your sister here has managed to give me the creeps. I'll be keeping as far away from her as possible."

Langris then stepped into a portal that formed behind him and left elsewhere.

"Yui," Tenshi sighed, "what you just said to him was very hurtful…and disrespectful."

"What? I was only stating a truth."

"It's the way you said it that's looked down upon. Nobody says what you just said unless they're out to do something that is unforgivable and inescapable. To say that all things return to nothing is to invoke an omen of the highest sort that promises dread."

"It's not like I actually meant anything by that."

"Just…be mindful of your choice of words next time. That's not something you want to say in any conversation. I once fought a guy that said that to me when I was starting out as a Magic Knight years before our family went into self-imposed exile…and he ended up paying a high price for his actions."

"What was his penance?"

"He was murdered by one of his own spells. He was warned not to use a spell he had no understanding of, but chose to ignore the signs at every opportunity he had to turn away. Truth be told, it was the first time I ever saw anyone die because of their own arrogance in thinking they could do something they knew was wrong and attempt to justify it by saying they were going to help the people around them. But believe me, there's no justifying anything of that sort."

-x-

"…So, Yui has managed to frighten one of the Golden Dawn members away with her choice of words?" Rika asked her son in a conversation between them late in the night, using her Communication Magic tool.

"Unfortunately, yes," Tenshi explained. "I'm not sure why she even said what she said, but I worry that she's up to something. Our squad's lack of missions has left her with a lot of time on her hands, but she spends them either at the library or in her room. Has she made any attempt to contact you, Suki or Shinji?"

"I don't think she even knows that she can keep in touch with us," Rika informed him. "I've been getting letters from you, Suki and Shinji, but I don't think she's ever gotten the letter I sent her. What do you suppose she's up to?"

"Considering that I have my reasons not to disbelieve she's up to no good, probably experimenting on her magic, trying to put science into something sacred."

"Be careful, though. Whatever Shinji told us about NERV can be expanded upon with what we discovered from Yui's memories and still leaves much to be discovered because what they both know can only tell us so much."

"But Shinji's the only one out of the two that deserves the benefit of the doubt due to being ignorant of his parents' goals; it's not everyday you find out your parents are truly up to no good that will harm a lot of people. Even if they didn't have a direct hand in the devastation from fifteen years ago, I can still see them as having some responsibility for the fallout."

"There's plenty of blame to go around for those responsible. Whether or not Yui tries to seek forgiveness for her actions depends upon her personal ambitions. I'm hoping that she does want forgiveness for her involvement and give up on what she used to believe in what she was doing when she was at this GEHIRN organization."

"You confided in me what the Wizard King informed you about the prophecy that formed after our return. I am grateful for you keeping me in the loop and accepting my keeping tabs on Yui as much as possible, but tell me one thing: Do you believe the prophecy is false, that we're being played and nothing terrible is going to happen?"

"I don't believe the prophecy is entirely solid, because it doesn't say for sure which one of us is the one with treacherous intent, only that it's one of us that will disgrace our family while another one will redeem it. As far as I care to admit, it could be any one of us that has the intent to hurt others. Our thoughts become actions…and our actions decide whether we're helpful or hurtful to others."

Tenshi sighed and nodded over her belief. No matter what people said or did, it would always be their words and actions that decide who they were to others, not some foretelling of a warning.

"Maybe next month, we should all get together," he suggested to her. "We might be Magic Knights now, but we can still get together for dinner or an activity."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I'd like that, Tenshi. I'd like that a lot."

-x-

Even if she only said it once, it was enough to make Langris want nothing to do with Yui Ikari. His view on the woman that was an intermediary between noble and commoner was damn-near no different from his disgust with Finral, whom he heard a rumor on being trained by the Black Bulls' new member, the woman's son, Shinji Ikari, who he could care less about if it weren't for the fact that he showed up all the Magic Knights that day Rades broke out of prison and attacked Kikka. But out of the two, it was the boy's mother that disturbed him more than the boy himself that should've, and only because of what she said. And in addition, she was a woman that was said to frown upon magic in favor of this…science from this other world House Ikari had been exiled to.

 _This woman has something in her that's disturbing and troublesome,_ he thought as he was slicing through stone with his Spatial Magic in a canyon. _She's like that purple behemoth that appeared in that decrepit village House Ikari chose to settle in: Mysterious and potentially dangerous, someone to steer clear of._

As another large piece of stone came falling off on account of his magic, Langris switched his thoughts to his brother. The fact that he was getting trained by House Ikari's youngest member led him to wonder just how powerful the boy truly was. If Finral was showing signs of improvement, then it was safe to say that his big brother was taking his Spatial Magic seriously, just not as serious as he did, though.

-x-

Lying in her bed in her quarters, Yui pondered what to do about her relationships, or rather, her lack of relationships with the Golden Dawn. In her own mind, she was progressing well for a Junior Magic Knight, even though there hadn't been many missions…and her list of spells were minor at best because there were some she was keeping away from people because she didn't want to share them just them. Despite her advancement in magic, she still tried to force a sense of logic into the measuring of her spells and mana reserves.

" _This is a world where magic is everything, Yui,"_ she remembered Suki telling her during their training regimen with Tenshi. _"You can't put math or theories or whatever it is you do into something that has no need for it. A Fire Magic spell only requires the will of the mage that uses it, just as a magic bullet requires the mana we use to be effective against whatever or whoever we use it against."_

Still, Yui couldn't let go of her preferences just because of where she currently resided. She was a scientist, first and foremost, and a Magic Knight second. As long as she held onto her belief that this magic she practiced could be applied scientifically to her skillset, she could surpass the others and reach her goal.

"Huh?" She went as she looked over at her desk, seeing a glowing space atop it. "What is this?"

She got up and walked over, seeing that the glow came from three closed envelops. The glow came off them and floated in front of her face.

"This is a reminder, Yui Ikari," a female voice uttered to her, "you have not answered your mail received from your mother, elder sister or son since they were brought over nearly two-and-a-half months ago."

"I had totally forgotten that I get mail here," Yui told herself; it had been too long since she had gotten something as simple as a letter from anyone.

Time in the Eva didn't stop her from recalling the times when people had to rely on the postal service to send and receive mail, but the way she learned that the postal service in the Clover Kingdom left her feeling more…miffed over how the people here were overly dependent upon magic for all of their needs. Even her recent research on the history of the kingdom left her desiring some improvement. There was nothing wrong with advancement, even a little advancement, but these people…were just too primitive to her liking. Not even the smartest of men and women here, including those of the Magic Knights, were smart enough to rival her intellect because they were medieval, not modern.

"And they tell me to give this place a chance," she sighs as she opens Shinji's letter first to see what his life with his and Suki's squad was like and sits down.

" _Dear Mother,"_ it started, _"how are you doing within the Golden Dawn? I'm doing fine within the Black Bull with Suki. Our squad mates are quite the crazy bunch since we met them. One of them, Grey, whom we met before, has a difficult time trying to be herself around us. She hides who she is by being someone else from time to time. Then, there's Luck Voltia, the young man that loves to fight. He probably loves to fight a little too much that he can't think of something else to love just as much. Mister Finral Roulacase once tried to hit on Suki, but she had to let him down on account of not being interested in him. I think he's something of a womanizer and a person that wishes for the others in the squad to respect him due to either his age or his rank; excluding our captain, it turns out the majority of all the Black Bull members are Junior Magic Knights ranging from Fifth Class to First Class. No doubt each one is a lot stronger than their ranking proclaims them to be…and they can get stronger. I guess before I call it a night, I'll say this about my initial expectations of the Black Bulls: I thought I wasn't going to fit in with this weird bunch that show potential and unpredictability…but now I think I'm going to do just fine with them. I hope you get along with everyone in the Golden Dawn. They're supposed to be the best of the Magic Knights, but I just couldn't see myself being one of them. It's probably something to do with perfection, which I can't do. I am not perfect. I will never be perfect. I am flawed, I have issues, but I admit to it. I cop to it…and I'm okay with that. Anyway, write back soon. I look forward to hearing from you about your time as a Magic Knight. There's so much to learn and so many people to protect. We have the authority of the Wizard King to keep them safe from harm. Love, Shinji."_

Again, Yui sighed as she set the letter down. Her son was doing fine, despite the fact that a group of rogue mages had deemed him, her sister and this orphan by the name of Asta a threat to them because of their magic (or strange lack of magic, thereof, in Asta's case). Then, she realized something that she believed to be the truth: Shinji was adjusting to this world better than she was because he believed in everything her mother and Tenshi had ever said to him about it, and it was like he could fit in, despite not belonging to this world like the rest of their family. Turning to her grimoire, opened it to one of the pages that was displaying a spell in-progress of being completed, and one that she was looking to using later on.

"I'll rise through the ranks as best as I can," she decided. "Once I get far enough, I decide where to go from then on."

To be continued…

A/N: It almost makes it seem like Yui's keeping away from Shinji, even though he's trying to reach out to her and explain bits about his life with the Black Bull squad. What do you think?


	24. Guardian's New Pact

Creation began on 08-05-19

Creation ended on 08-06-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Guardian's New Pact

A/N: Inspired by the dark revelation scene showed in _Brightburn_. We get to know how Guardian of the Void got to be tied to Shinji Ikari.

The world he was currently inhabiting was different from the Void itself, shaped by the mind of whoever was wielding the False Destiny Breaker grimoire that had been handed down through the ages of House Ikari since the passing of its original owner. And as he wandered down the street in the rainy night, learning about the new owner that he would meet in a while, the creature that was Guardian of the Void was hearing the voices of the previous wielders of the grimoire that he followed and protected over the various generations.

" _You know what you must do, Guardian,"_ a male voice told him.

" _You always know what has to be done, Guardian,"_ another male voice added.

" _I trust in you like we all have over the years, Guardian,"_ a female voice expressed. _"You're part of the family, too, even if there's no blood relation."_

" _Look at what you've enabled us to do when we found ourselves in a hole we could barely climb out of,"_ a third male voice told him. _"You showed us how we could all change our fates and reject the ones others tried to force on us. You've done it many times before…and you'll do it again for this young soul."_

"The mana calls out to this person," Guardian expressed as he grabbed onto a streetlight, bending it over onto the street. "Memory… Fire… Sword… Light… Spatial… The mana speaks… Untapped energies sleep deep within him. Within him! House Ikari's youngest member! Find him, guide him, protect him from the danger that seeks to end him… A cruel destiny chases after him. A false destiny that someone he wants to believe in is capable of change seeks to force him into embracing… It's someone that will force him into conflict with himself, to want to take what isn't anyone's right to take. To take… They will force him to take what isn't within his right to have… Take… House Ikari… Clover Kingdom… A demon wrapped in armor, soulless, sought after by the heart of a desperate life that seeks to take… Ikari…Shinji… Shinji Ikari. Protect Shinji Ikari from his false destiny…and let him choose his own destiny that is rightfully his to decide upon."

With his objective clear, Guardian summoned the grimoire that had chosen the boy he was now bound to by a force stronger than those of any understood by mortals, reminded of the pact he made from long ago with House Ikari when he came into their service. There was no trading of any souls or an obligation that had to be met. No, Guardian…owed the family a debt that could never be paid. A life debt that he could never fulfill…and not because it was impossible to do on his own…but because some debts…just weren't meant to be paid back.

"…But who are you?" The boy, Shinji Ikari, asked him again, needing some clarification to his identity, even if this was a dream and he was likely to forget about it later.

"I," Guardian responded, now endowed with this child's history and the understanding of why his fate needed to be changed for the better, to escape the pressures of his corrupt past and reshape his future, "am Guardian of the Void…and we are bound together through a pact that transcends the ties of blood and magic. If we break the ties of dark fates that seek to bind your soul to a destiny undesired by you…then you will be able to do as you desire instead of what others intend for you to do. That…is the goal we must contend with in order to free you."

The boy looked at the creature's red eyes as they glowed bright blue. What should've been fear enveloping his mind over the beast's actions…was instead hope over escaping his own fate.

Shinji Ikari…felt hopeful in Guardian's power to help him break from what might've been a curse he couldn't escape on his own.

To be continued…

A/N: It was supposed to be inspired solely by the scene in _Brightburn_ , but it took a slight detour with the Eddie and Venom introduction scene in _Venom_. Still, we now get a glimpse into what Guardian is around for. We shall also see in the future just how powerful he is, both with Shinji and without Shinji. Why else is he called Guardian?


	25. Beneath the Sea, Heightened Danger

Creation began on 07-20-19

Creation ended on 08-07-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Beneath the Sea, Heightened Danger

It was as expected: The moment Captain Yami was informed that the sea monster at Raque was caused by Vetto of the Despair and informed the Wizard King, the Black Bulls were tasked with returning to the town and were informed of something that the Eye of the Midnight Sun were likely after that was accessible only through what was there at Raque. But the upside to going back to the town was that everyone in the squad was to be on this extended mission, since the ones initially chosen had given Vetto a run for his magic and forced him to flee.

"They're after a magic stone?" Suki questioned as she and Shinji were informed of what it was that the Midnight Sun was likely after. "What is that?"

"Nobody's sure," went Asta, "but that's something we think they want from wherever they can find it and take it."

"It must be something of immense magical power if they're willing to go through this degree of trouble to find one," said Shinji to them.

"Now that I think about it, last year, there was an attack on the village of Sosshi just after I joined the Black Bulls. Noelle, Magna and I found something that might've been a magic stone."

"Can you describe it, please?" Suki requested of him.

"It didn't look like a stone," Asta explained. "It looked more like some sort of pink, square-shaped crystal. There was a small symbol on it, too."

"In some cultures, something like that can be referred to as a stone, but only because it comes from the ground. If it was fashioned some time ago, then it's considered a jewel because it was intended to look impressive to the eye of the beholder. Surely, there are several within the Noble Realm that possess these jewels."

"If there were, the Midnight Sun would've attacked them a long time ago," went Finral.

"Uh, Shinji," Vanessa spoke to Shinji, pointing over towards Guardian at the edge of the beach, "what's with Guardian?"

"Oh, he's been measuring the magical energy laced in the water," he explained.

"That better be all he's doing," said Charmy, brandishing a shish kebab in her left hand. "If he sees some fish and is holding out on us, we're going to have a problem."

Suddenly, Guardian turned his head around to face them; whether he heard Charmy's threat or not was unknown to Shinji. Then he pointed over to the rocks where they had fought with Vetto with his right claw.

"There's fish over there!" He yelled, indicating that he heard what the little witch said.

"I'll go see," Shinji sighed and walked over.

"I'll go help," Suki added in.

-x-

"Goodness gracious," Rika sighed as she examined the jewel owned by Fuegoleon Vermillion at the request of the Wizard King, and she looked at two gentlemen in front of her as she sat at the table across from them. "If this jewel were something else altogether dangerous for any one of you to carry, I'd stress that you hide it away and forget it ever existed."

"Then…you know what it is?" Fuegoleon asked her.

"Yes," she answered. "I've seen a few like it before I went into self-imposed exile with my surviving children. It's one of the magic stones associated with the Elf Tribe."

"The Elf Tribe?" Julius questioned. "You mean to say that they actually existed long ago?"

"They lived in the Forsaken Region, not far from where my family lived back then. We were friends with some of them growing up. They never thought badly of or feared us at all. I had great respect for two of them: Licht of the Sword and Patoli of the Light. They admired my family's Infinity Affinity; they've never encountered mages that could use more than one type of magic that wasn't related to what one of their members possessed as Imitation Magic."

"Imitation Magic?" Julius spoke, clearly never hearing of it.

"You get into contact with another person's grimoire, and your grimoire can copy the spells that they know. The only downside is that there's a limit in both the number of spells you can use at any one time…and the spells you're able to copy. If you copy more spells than you can handle, your grimoire won't be able to sustain the accumulated total, resulting in a backlash."

"That sounds dangerous," Fuegoleon stated.

"Only for the grimoire in question," she explained, and then handed him back the stone. "I don't know what happened to the Elf Tribe, but if you've had this stone for a time, then something must've happened to them and their stones were lost over the ages. In the possession of others capable of magic, they can amplify their magic power so long as they can endure the intensity of said increase. Be careful, though. If these rogue mages are after the stones, then they must know what they can do and will stop at nothing to obtain them, making them both a blessing and a curse to whoever possesses them."

Fuegoleon then tucked the stone back under his shirt, keeping it out of sight. Now that they knew what the stone was, they could be better prepared the next time the Midnight Sun attacked.

"Again, I thank you for your services as a reservoir of ancient information, Rika Ikari," Julius praised the matriarch of House Ikari.

"You're welcome. In all honesty, I needed to get out of the house in Hage; otherwise, I'd probably go a little mad not doing anything to pass the time."

"Maybe you should consider becoming a Magic Knight," Fuegoleon suggested.

"No, my children and grandson being Magic Knights is enough for the kingdom to handle right now. And I got nothing to prove to anyone. Should you face the Midnight Sun again, those four are likely to be your ace in the hole."

"Aren't your elder daughter and grandson on an extended mission over in Raque?"

"Yes, they are," Julius explained. "It's possible that a magic stone exists at the Seabed Temple just under the ocean there."

"The Seabed Temple? Don't you mean the Coral Village?" Rika asked.

"It hasn't been called by that name in over four-hundred years."

"I guess it really did expand like the High Priestess told my mother it would one day."

"You visited it before?" Fuegoleon asked her.

"Yes, twice in my childhood. It was about the size of Sosshi back then."

-x-

"…So, there's a temple beneath the ocean out here?" Shinji asked Yami, making sure he understood right, and then looked out at the ocean. "It shouldn't be too difficult for us to get down there if we know where it is and how far down."

"Yeah, it would sound like a piece of cake to go down there," Yami agreed with him, "except the temple's a Grand Magic Zone, so there's a magical barrier and whirlpool currents that keep out invaders. Fortunately, the currents lose their potency during periods of full moons. We will have three days to prepare for going down there."

"Three days," went Guardian, who was still looking at the ocean, "or four hours from now."

"What?!" Finral questioned. "There's no full moon out tonight, Guardian, so how do you expect us to get down there when there's a magic barrier and a series of whirlpools strong enough to keep us out?!"

Guardian looked at him and said nothing…but gave him a small smirk.

"He clearly sees something that's possible for us to do," Shinji suspected.

"But can we really do it?" Vanessa asked him.

"I believe in what Guardian says we can do," went Gordon. "If he says we can get down there in four hours, then we can get down there in four hours."

"Does Guardian confide in you about what it is that he sees, Shinji?" Yami asked the boy.

"Not everything," he answered back. "Whatever it is that he sees in our ability to get to the temple ahead of time is likely related to the fact that each of us is stronger than we were originally. He wouldn't say we'd be able to get down there ahead of schedule if he didn't really mean it."

"But in four hours?" Asta spoke up, getting Shinji's attention. "What do we do until then?"

"Sleep," went Guardian, turning to face the squad, "eat up, train, whatever you feel it takes to get ready for what might be down there along with the objective."

-x-

"That creature that's affiliated with Shinji seems to be aware of things they don't know about," went Ritsuko as the photo album depicted Shinji and Guardian looking out at the ocean.

"It still looks like they're on vacation," Asuka claimed, seeing the picture under Shinji and Guardian depicting Suki sitting under a tree near the beach with Noelle, staying out of the sunlight, looking as though they were engaged in conversation.

"If they were on vacation," stated Misato to the redhead, "I don't think they'd be working. I mean, look, the next picture here shows Shinji engaged in a training exercise with that Luck fellow…and is clearly winning."

Gendo looked at the fourth picture going down on the pages and frowned at how Shinji had, apparently, pinned the boy that seemed to spark with electricity to the ground.

" _Your mana reserves have deepened yet again, Luck,"_ he thought he heard his voice say.

Fuyutsuki turned to the next page and saw the beach at night…and the Black Bull squad standing before Noelle and Suki, who seemed to be radiating with power.

"Did these two find something or are they turning into something else?" Kaji uttered.

-x-

"Union Magic," Noelle and Suki uttered as their grimoires unleashed their chosen spells to create their combo spell for the squad, "Seafarer's Vessel!"

A large sphere of water had formed around them and the squad, and lifted them off the ground and over the ocean.

Splash! They slammed into the sea and were moving like there was barely any resistance between them and the currents. It was as though they were moving through the air instead of through the water.

"How'd you two come up with a spell like this?" Asta asked them.

"It's mostly Noelle's Sea Dragon's Cradle," explained Suki to him, "just reinforced and augmented by my Ice Magic spell Sub-Zero Barrier."

"Impressive spell, you two," Guardian praised them, raising his left claw up and extending a talon to touch the sphere. "This magic is heightened by your determination to see us through to our destination…and affords us a grand view of the world beneath the waves."

Noelle looked around them and saw fish swimming by, octopi propelling themselves by using all their tentacles, and even a large whale that seemed to attract Shinji's attention.

"So beautiful," he sighed, mesmerized by the view as a manta ray swam by. "Beautiful…"

"You've…never seen sea creatures like this before, haven't you, Shinji?" She asked him.

"Never," he answered.

"That world you're from must've been really sad."

Shinji thought about it for a moment and nodded in the positive, expressing, "Sad…and broken. It wasn't always like that, but I only know about what it was like from the view of three of my relatives. My view is that of a broken keyhole."

"People that are responsible for breaking the world don't even have the morality to admit their mistakes or own up to them," Guardian stated. "People who know they are responsible for the parts of a world that is broken lack everything, not from means and knowledge, but the will and spine to fix those parts."

"Speaking of anyone in particular, Guardian?" Suki asked.

"Would you care to hear it straight from my heart?"

"How else will I know if you don't say?"

"No offense to you in any way, Shinji, but your father is a member of those that broke the world you come from and doesn't have the decency to admit his faults."

"No argument from me about that," Shinji responded; this was just a form of truth that was admitted with some subtlety, and he accepted that there were some things about his parents that were clear as crystal was. "My father isn't very…open about himself or anyone."

-x-

"Don't agree with them, you brat!" Gendo yelled at the album, getting everyone's attention again because he acted out over what they were hearing every now and then.

"He's only sharing his opinion," Ritsuko stated as she turned the page. "It's not like he has his parents to talk to about what the world was like before Second Impact. And…wait, is that… Is that an Eva?"

The first two pictures on the left side of the page depicted a look at where Yui was at the moment, with said woman waving her arms in the air and looking as though she was sculpting a human-sized Evangelion in front of her.

"His mother's using her magic to create an Eva?" Asuka questioned, and looked at the third photo that depicted a spell inside the woman's grimoire with an image of only half an Eva from the waist up. "Somehow, I don't think he's going to like it if she shows it off one day."

Rei looked at the picture and pressed her left index finger onto it.

FLASH! She saw the Eva, its armor similar to Unit-01's, but now massive instead of human-sized, and crouched behind Yui as she stood in front of a mountain city with a white lab coat on, her Golden Dawn robes cast aside to the winds.

" _I'm doing this to save everyone from the end,"_ she heard her say.

Pulling her finger away, the albino's thoughts shaped into a train that made her suspect that Shinji's mother was clearly up to something that she intended to do that was not what most people would approve of. She then looked at the right page and saw the grandmother walking down a street, passing a young woman with red hair, surrounded by five younger children. And then, the picture under the top one showed her conjuring flowers for them.

-x-

As the sphere continued to travel down the undersea world, Guardian sensed the presence of strong magic on the Black Bulls' path.

"We're approaching the magic barrier," he informed them.

"You mean those whirlpools?" Finral pointed out to at least ten whirlpools that were gathering in front of them. "And how are we supposed to get through those, Guardian?"

"Asta," the creature spoke, getting the knight's attention, "will you help Shinji with an Anti-Magic combo spell?"

"No problem," Asta responded.

"Wait," Noelle told them. "Won't that just cancel out this combo spell currently in use?"

"Nope," Shinji explained. "Anti Magic doesn't affect every spell if you know exactly what to do. And now that Asta has a few spells in his possession, we should be able to get through those whirlpools without much difficulty."

"You don't sound very sure of yourself."

"I've never used this Anti Magic spell before, but it's beneficial to getting through the whirlpools. It's a supplementary spell."

Asta and Shinji opened their grimoires and the whirlpools were seconds away from their sphere.

"Any time now," Guardian uttered.

"Union Magic," Shinji and Asta went, "Defense Negation!"

Asta's Demon-Dweller Sword emerged from his grimoire and phased through the front of the sphere, where it then replicated into a ring of swords linked together by a chain around the sphere, glowing black.

"I can't watch," Finral stated, covering his eyes.

The first whirlpool made contact, shaking the sphere, but then the current dissipated when the swords started spinning around the sphere like a saw blade; somehow, the swords were able to dispel the magic within the whirlpool and enable the sphere to pass through.

"One down, nine to go," Shinji told them as the second one was up next.

Finral opened his eyes and saw their sphere pass through another whirlpool without much difficulty, followed by two more whirlpools.

"Ha-ha!" He laughed. "You two are awesome! Anti Magic is amazing!"

"Don't praise too soon," said Suki to him as they passed through another whirlpool. "Heh, we're all doing better now."

"Be honest, Guardian of the Void," uttered Yami to the creature, "you knew that we'd be able to get through these whirlpools because these slackers were whipped into shape by the newbie, didn't you?"

Guardian looked down at him and responded, "Shinji has a strength within him that enables him to bring out the hidden strength in those that impress him, but to say that this is possible because of him would be false of me to do so. The Black Bull squad impresses and motivates him to become better, but each of its members, they must put in the effort to bring out their own best…and all I need to do is look at each of them…all of them flawed, all of them unbearably predictable in their own way…and see that they have progressed by a substantial degree. One of this squad's greatest qualities is its imperfection. Not a single individual in this squad is perfect…and that's what makes this squad perfect for Shinji to be a part of."

As they passed through the last two whirlpools, Charmy looked beneath her feet and saw something that caught her attention.

"What is that down there?" She asked the others, and they looked down to see.

"That must be it," went Vanessa, "the Seabed Temple."

The whole place looked like it was made of stone or coral, decorated with starfish and seashells, protected by a large bubble. How it was all illuminated despite being deep beneath the ocean was a mystery to each member of the Black Bull as their sphere came closer and closer.

"And one such powerful mage declared that all with good intentions would pass through locked doors without fail," said Guardian as their sphere passed through the bubble and floated to the ground in front of the temple.

There were people gathering around out front as the sphere dissolved before them, displaying the Magic Knight squad to the masses. Each individual looked as though their attire was based off a sea creature, with fish scale designs and seashell accessories.

"I didn't know people could live this far below the sea," Shinji expressed.

"Same here," added Asta.

The people in the background stood aside as a man came forward to the Black Bulls. He seemed quite old, with long, white hair that was tied into a sort of ponytail that was floating around behind his head, dressed in robes.

"Welcome to the Seabed Temple," he greeted them. "I'm the High Priest, Gifso. Such an honor it is to be in the presence of Magic Knights."

Shinji and Suki bowed their heads to the man in respect, something that was lost to Asta and Noelle; the former rarely saw this action in Hage and the latter never saw others of the royal and noble affiliated perform such an action.

Guardian of the Void also bowed his head to the High Priest.

"You three," Gifso expressed, perceiving the abundance of magic power within these individuals to such a heightened degree with his mana sensory. "The mana within you, it's different from the mana in your squad mates. It's more…more…"

"Widespread?" Guardian suggested. "Vast? Is what you feel similar to the ocean around us: It stretches as far as the eye can see, beyond the horizon?"

"Yes," he answered. "You're unusually intelligent for a creature of magic."

"A creature of magic, I am, but I am as independent of others as you yourself are."

Gifso gasps upon hearing this.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I am the Guardian of the Void," the creature introduced himself. "The possibilities beyond this encounter with me may be as vast as this very ocean from which we draw sustenance from."

"You're the Guardian of…of the Void? What kind of creature are you?"

"Not the kind that you can conquer…without overcoming the very Void itself."

Gifso then looked at Shinji and Suki, their mana different from Guardian's…and the rest of the squad, as well.

"Are they of House Ikari?" He pointed to them.

"We are," Suki responded.

"Wow, it really is an honor to be in the presence of the Magic Knights."

-x-

"Now, what seems to be the problem going on here, people?" Tenshi asked, noticing that there were two Magic Knights affiliated with the Purple Orca squad, and behind them was a young woman in a blue and green dress that sported a tear in the right sleeve and a frightened look on her face. _Why do I get the feeling that I'm about to pick a fight with these two?_

"Go home, old guy," one of the Purple Orcas told him. "This doesn't concern you."

"Please," he heard the woman beg. "Please, help."

The way she asked Tenshi made him suspect that whatever was going on here…was against the rules and regulations of the Magic Knights. And his brief history discovery of the Purple Orcas from Shinji's talk with Rades Spirito left him…actually frowning at this particular squad among the nine squads. If there was more truth to what Rades expressed over his brief history with the knights, then the Purple Orcas weren't much in the honor and respect department, as both a squad that helps to defend the country from invaders and keeping the peace among the people…and as a select group of people that were handpicked to serve the interests of the people.

"I get no clarity over the situation, except for what I can see happening," he said to the two Purple Orcas, "and what I see is a woman in distress because of two men who seem to be doing the very opposite of what they should be doing. Now, what's going on here?"

"Do you not know whose presence you're in?" The other Purple Orca knight asked him. "This is Xerx Lugner, the vice-captain of the Purple Orcas! He is the Saint of Pure Ice! He commands respect from everyone around him!"

"Oh, really, he commands respect? Maybe where you're from, but I'm afraid to say that I can't give him mine…because he who harms a defenseless civilian that does nothing to wrong you…is clearly devoid of respect. Now, I'm gonna ask again. What is the problem here?"

"They took my daughter and won't give her back!" The woman yelled to him.

"Is that so? Well, that's not going to do. That's not going to do at all. So I'll tell you two this: Return to this woman her daughter and leave with your dignity intact. If not…then I can't promise you'll walk away unscathed."

"Are you threatening us, you Golden Dawn lackey?" The older man, Xerx, asked him.

"When it becomes a threat, you will know it," Tenshi told him, removing his Golden Dawn robes, "and what Golden Dawn lackey? I'm not wearing any robes representing that squad. Right now…I'm just a patriarch for my family and an otaku whose knowledge is versed in comic books and cartoons."

Xerx frowned upon this man…and opened his grimoire.

"You're a disgrace!" He yelled at Tenshi.

-x-

"…A magic stone, you say?" Gifso questioned the Black Bulls as he led them to the interior of the temple. "I don't think we've ever seen anything of the sort around here."

"Are you sure?" Finral asked him. "It wouldn't be too hard to miss, we're sure about that."

"Yes, it'd be a small stone, maybe resembling a colored crystal of some sort," Shinji described the stone, "maybe looking like a piece of jewelry. There might be a strange symbol on it, even?"

"If something like that were around here, we'd seen it a long time ago."

"Then it's possible that the stone's hidden around here," suggested Suki and Noelle.

"If it's hidden, then we'll have to look all over for it," went Magna, sounding like they would be here for a while.

"Better us than the Eye of the Midnight Sun," Vanessa told him, as that group would've likely caused unnecessary devastation to find the stone.

"Grr!" Guardian growled, turning his head left and right as what looked like dark fur with silver edges sprouted around his neck, making him look like hybrid between a reptilian creature and some sort of furry animal.

"Guardian," Shinji spoke to him, "you feeling alright?"

Now sporting a lion-like mane around his neck, Guardian responded, "Yeah, just irritated. There's definitely a magic stone here. I can feel it in my veins. I can smell it in the air down here. No matter how you try to hide it, magic will always leave a lingering trace to be sensed."

"Is that so?" Yami questioned, and then Guardian's right arm shot up and closed around something in the air.

"Whoa!" Asta gasped. "What was up with that, Guardian?! Did you catch a bug or something?"

Guardian turned to face the other squad members and brought his claw down. Opening it, he revealed what he had caught.

It was an anti-bird, one with upturned horns and two tail feathers shaped like arrows.

"Nero?" Luck questioned. "What are you doing here?"

Guardian brought his claw close to his face and looked down at the anti-bird.

Nero, for the first time in a long time, felt fear being in the presence of this creature.

"It looks like I'm not the only one that looks out for this particular squad," Guardian spoke to the bird. "Can you help us find the magic stone, lass?"

Nero nodded and flew off his claw and into the air, flying away from the squad.

"Guardian," went Suki, "you went and called Nero 'lass', didn't you?"

"Isn't that what you use to address someone who is female?"

"You knew the bird was female before any of us did?"

"Not until I plucked her out of the air."

"You're a little spooky right now."

"Because of what I can do…or because of how I can do what I do?"

"Absolutely, positively the second part, Guardian."

"To each their own opinion of someone, no matter how it is."

"But you're helpful, and that makes up for all of it."

"Thank you."

They saw Nero land on a coral formation and pointed her left wing towards the temple.

"It's in there, Nero?" Shinji asked her, and she fly over to land on his left shoulder and pointed again towards the temple. "Thank you very much."

"So, what you're looking for is inside the temple?" Gifso questioned. "Very well, then, this should become a game of hide and seek."

"Huh?" Gordon went as Gifso opened his grimoire.

A flash of light enveloped the Black Bulls…and then they were gone. And so was Gifso.

-x-

"You Purple Orcas cannot just command respect," Tenshi told the two Magic Knights that fell before him through a combination of Sword Magic, Thread Magic and assaulting their pressure points, removing their robes from their bodies. "You must have respect to obtain respect, and you two have none to give. Now, one of you is going to tell me where the lady's daughter is, or I'm going to extract the information from you, and you don't want that to happen if it comes to that."

Xerx, frowning at Tenshi as he looked up at him, unable to move due to his pressure points being assaulted, uttered, "I refuse to divulge anything of the sort to the likes of you, you filthy cretin that thinks commoners are deserving to be treated with respect that only the nobility and royalty deserve. That is pathetic."

Tenshi sighed and opened his grimoire.

"Dark Memory Magic," he responded, "Suffering Recall."

Xerx felt his mind being violated by the spell, all of his dark secrets, all of his acts, exposed to this old man that had defeated him.

"You're a depraved mind, Mr. Lugner," he heard Tenshi say to him. "And worse is that you knew the Purple Orca was compromised, but you stayed silent about it in order to rise through the ranks to become the vice-captain. Your squad has done many depraved things to hide this corruption. You blamed other people for your vile acts, cast aside previous members or killed them because they disgusted you. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the Magic Knights were compromised, but it seems that your squad is the most crooked if nobody has done anything to remove the infection that is greed, pride and murder. And yet during the selection portion of the entrance exam, your captain raised his hand for me, hoping I would join your crew. But while purple is one of my six most liked colors, your squad is one of three of my least favorite groups here, alongside the Green Praying Mantis and Silver Eagle squads. I never truly wanted to believe that a former member for this squad was right about the lack of understanding and acceptance of its older members or the lack of team spirit, but I guess Rades Spirito was spot-on about you after you kicked him out."

"Rades Spirito? That fool has magic so unstable and ugly that he didn't deserve to be a Magic Knight!" The other Purple Orca member declared. "In fact, it was because of his little chat with your nephew that our captain felt he had lost any interest in joining our squad. But to think that he'd choose the most pathetic of the squads, the Black Bull, over the other squads that don't make more trouble… Your family has clearly fallen on hard times!"

Tenshi's face was a blend between vacant and angry; you couldn't tell he was upset because of the lack of emotion seen on his face, but when he looked at you, there was a hint of rage directed towards you for your offense.

"I won't deny that as a truth," he uttered, walking away from them and picking up their robes; he had obtained the information he required from Xerx. "Everyone eventually falls on such times. You, him, her, anyone and everyone. But not as much as you're going to now. Spatial Blood Magic: Reunion of the Kin!"

A tear in space opened beside Tenshi like a knife cutting through flesh…and a young woman emerged from it, with short blond hair and wearing a brown dress with three tears on it.

"My daughter!" The elder woman cried out, running over to the woman and embracing her. "Thank you, sir! Thank you!"

Tenshi smiled and nodded, then turned his attention back to Xerx and his ally.

"You two don't deserve to be called Magic Knights if you have forgotten the duties each member must uphold in the Clover Kingdom," he told them. "We protect the Clover King and his family from any that seek to lay claim to the throne or to destroy it, we keep watch over the Clover Kingdom against any and all threats to it, both inside and out, and we assist the people that live in and make up the kingdom, no matter who they are, be they of the nobility you respect so much or just a bunch of low-class people you look down upon because they don't live up to any of your standards. When you choose to become a Magic Knight, you take an oath to uphold all three of the duties tasked to you. Upholding these duties honors you and your comrades…and ignoring these duties shame you and your comrades."

Tenshi then offered to escort the two women back to their home, which they accepted, leaving the two Purple Orcas on the ground where they were defeated; Tenshi wouldn't report them just yet, but he would make sure that the Wizard King would be informed of the squad's corruption and admit his role in dealing with two of its members.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Xerx and his ally heard a new voice say as they saw someone step out of the shadows of an alleyway. "He was right about all of it, everything he said to you two. You don't deserve to be Magic Knights if you can't offer to help the people that seek your aid. You're unworthy of such recognition and bring nothing but shame to the rest of the Magic Knights. How pathetic."

"Who…are you?" Xerx asked, seeing nothing recognizable on this mysterious man, except for his red hair and sharp teeth.

"I'm just a guy passing by," he responded. "I thought I'd find some more Magic Knights out to do good for the people and the kingdom. It turns out I was only half-right. There was only one Magic Knight…and two posers."

To be continued…

A/N: We rarely get the facts of what a Magic Knight is supposed to do in the Clover Kingdom much of the time beyond what we see them do, but with Tenshi, we get a clear understanding of what a knight's duties are and why. I bet one of you knows who the mystery guy was at the end.


	26. Underwater Royale

Creation began on 08-08-19

Creation ended on 09-28-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Underwater Royale

Yami came to and found himself in a cave with Gifso…and Shinji and Guardian of the Void, who were present.

"What the Hell happened?" He asked them.

"The High Priest used a spell that was meant to split up the squad for his game," Shinji explained, "only part of it backfired. He was aiming to divide the squad members based on their level of magic, taking out those with the strongest degree from the weakest, except he ended up separating Guardian and I from the squad along with you."

"Which I find unusual," added Gifso; his original intent was to separate the captain of the Black Bulls from the lesser members, but he ended up bringing along a squad member whose magic was significantly high enough to enable him to slip through the cracks with a creature of magic. "What is this young man's rank in your squad? He insists that he's a First Class Junior, but there's no way he could be of such a ranking. He has to be of a higher ranking. What is it?"

"Newbie here speaks the truth," Yami answered him. "He's a First Class Junior Magic Knight. He received that rank due to defeating a former Magic Knight through a simple conversation."

"But…he's too powerful to be a Junior. In fact, many of the squad members aren't strong enough to be anything but Juniors."

"Yeah, that's because I've been helping them to get stronger so that they can raise their ranks in the future," Shinji explained the status of the Black Bulls. "I don't really expect any of them to reach the top ranks of Intermediate or Senior any time in the near future, but if they get stronger, if they can be better than they were before we were attacked by the Eye of the Midnight Sun, then perhaps the veteran members, those that have been in the squad longer than Suki and I have, can get to maybe Third Class Intermediate or Fifth Class Senior."

"The Eye of the Midnight Sun?"

"They're a group of rogue mages with a hatred against the Clover Kingdom. We don't know why, exactly, but they're not the merciful type; if you're affiliated in some way with the Clover Kingdom, whether or not you're a member of the Magic Knights or just a civilian, in their eyes, you're an enemy they must eliminate if they feel they must."

"That sounds a lot of the senseless feud with the Diamond Kingdom over our kingdom's resources because they squandered their own."

"That's terrible, sir."

"But as a Magic Knight, you, a member of the Black Bulls, are expected to face the enemy if they threaten the people of the Clover Kingdom. No war or battle is ever won through noncombatant means."

"Except for the battle between an examinee for the Magic Knight Entrance Exam and Rades Spirito, a member of the Midnight Sun," went Guardian.

"I don't think that counts, Guardian," Shinji told him.

"You fought him, spoke more to him than anyone else did that day, and defeated him with common sense and reasoning. If every conflict was won like that, there'd be very little reason for wars. If more people behaved like you did with Rades, who knows, maybe war would become a thing of the past. But the reality of such is that nobody knows for sure, which makes the realm of possibility all the more vast and infinite."

"You're all about possibilities, aren't you?" Yami asked him.

"You can't get the results one's after unless there are possibilities," said Gifso in understanding. "A world of magic is the same as a world of possibilities."

Gifso then conjured several screens made of water, showing the other Black Bull members in different locations within the underwater temple, looking around, confused over their whereabouts and the situation they were in.

"They're inside the temple where this stone you're looking for is," he explained to them, "but as they try to find the stone, they will have to deal with the guardians of the Seabed Temple that will hinder them, as well. They can either confront them or avoid them as best they can."

"Sounds similar to hide and seek," said Shinji, "except that they have to do both in order to find the stone."

"Exactly…and the game is about to begin."

-x-

"Ah, man," went Suki as she came to on the ground in the temple. "What was that spell?"

Getting up, she took out her grimoire and activated one of her spells.

"Light Beast Creation Magic: Solar Pegasus," she uttered, summoning a creature of light in front of herself, resembling a horse with angelic wings. "Let's find the others now. Compass Chain Magic: Binding Guide."

A large compass was generated from within her grimoire and shot out a chain that led the way. Her first order of business was to find Asta through his Anti Magic energies; after more studying of this rare form of magic, Suki learned spells to find traces of Anti Magic, not just other forms of magic that were more common.

-x-

"…Thank you again, sir," the woman Tenshi served by returning her daughter to her after his brief altercation with Xerx Lugner of the Purple Orcas, offering a mere cup of tea to him as he sat in her home.

"It was really a simple choice, ma'am," Tenshi explained. "I could either do something I know is the right choice to make…or ignore the needs of the people in front of me when they ask for aid. To have gone against my conscience would've been to go against everything a Magic Knight is supposed to stand for. One of the morality points of a Magic Knight is to either own up to their vulnerability against being corrupted by ideals of greed and power or embrace their unwillingness to be corrupted by the misuse of power or acceptance of bribes…when really just a simple cup of tea from a kind stranger should suffice when doing a good deed."

Once he finished his cup and gave his thanks, Tenshi stepped out into the dark night, looking up at the gathering of clouds. If they were in for a shower of light snow, he looked forward to walking around in it.

"For a cup of tea, you'd even go against any number of bad Magic Knights, wouldn't you, Tenshi?" He heard the voice of Excalibur, who appeared outside the rejuvenated man's grimoire, asking him. "You'd weed out the good from the bad, showing people their true colors for the sake of preserving the Order of the Magic Knights' honor, wouldn't you?"

"Only if it became absolutely necessary, Excalibur," he answered back. "It's never a good thing to force one's beliefs upon others. To even project oneself onto others has unintended repercussions if the people you're projecting onto aren't of sufficient mental endurance."

"Well spoken, Tenshi," came Arachne's voice as she appeared outside his grimoire. "It's really nice out here tonight."

"Yes, it is," Tenshi agreed, and started to walk down the stone walkway. "I've truly missed this among the things I enjoy about the Clover Kingdom."

"What, the primitive layout of how these towns and villages are made?" Excalibur asked him as he and Arachne followed him.

"No, walking at night in a common town and just thinking," he explained. "I tried to do this in Tokyo, in Osaka, even in Hokkaido, but it was hard to think when you're in a place that was just so…devoid of the emotional security that you'd feel in a place like this one."

"Sounds like this…Japan, while not entirely that bad," went Arachne, "was just not the kind of place you could ever fit in, was it, Tenshi?"

"But I was able to make do with what was there in the absence of the mana," he admitted. "Because of the abundance of comics and cartoons that I immersed myself in, I might as well be known as the Grand Otaku of House Ikari, not just the new patriarch."

A snowflake fell from the sky and landed in his left palm, earning a contented sigh from him.

"I love the snow," he expressed. "It's beautiful, it's mystifying, and it's full of wonder. I've missed it so much."

-x-

"…So, they were able to get to the Seabed Temple before we could get to it," went Vetto of the Despair as he, Rhya and Fana stood by the beach of Raque. "Quite the unexpected turn of events we have here."

"And you mean to say that the previous encounter you had unexpectedly with the Black Bulls here wasn't a turn of events?" Rhya asked him.

"That Ikari boy, he made those misfit knights stronger. I stood very little chance of besting just one of those weaklings without getting ambushed by two more of them!"

"Licht believes that out of the three Black Bull members that threaten our plans, it is the boy that may become the most dangerous to our cause," Fana uttered, "which makes him the one that needs to be dealt with above all. That boy, wretched, loathsome… We must destroy him above all others that stand in our way."

While Licht wanted to face the boy if he had gotten too strong for the Third Eye to contend with, the three mages still had a shot, only a shot, at disposing of Shinji before he had grown beyond their ability to overcome, however long they had left to achieve such a feat. They needed to unleash upon him the full might of their despair, treachery and hatred, to make him suffer like they had all suffered. And when he was on his knees, broken by their power…they would snap his neck, immolate his corpse…and reduce him to a forgotten memory.

"Beast Magic," Vetto called out one of the spells from his grimoire. "Humpback Whale's Farer!"

-x-

"I should really be out there helping to find the stone," Shinji told Gifso as he looked at the other Black Bulls as they were either looking around for a way out of the temple or trying to find each other. "Should my level of magic really determine my rank? Put me out there, and I'll show you I ain't entirely different from my squad mates."

"A Magic Knight that can use more than one type of magic is not one to take lightly," Gifso stated, unsure if he should let Shinji out of the cave they were in. "And you trained these mages to make them stronger, which, in turn, made you stronger. If you had progressed before coming here, I'd almost mistake you for a captain of a squad."

"I'm years away from being anything like that. Newbies still have much to learn before they can get anywhere that promises something of significant interest. But the best part of being the new guy…is that I have time to improve and get somewhere that promises something of significant interest. How many years did it take you to become the priest in charge of the order of the Seabed Temple?"

"Decades, young man."

"Was that time you took to work for the position…worth your patience?"

Gifso smiled as he responded, "Throughout all the ups and downs. Quite impressive… Nobody here was able to best this game in such a short amount of time."

"Huh? This is a game?"

Guardian sat on the ground, cross-legged with his claws folded against his chest, trying to see a possibility of Shinji and he getting out there and helping the others find the stone. To hear Gifso say that he and Shinji were engaged in some verbal game…had clearly been among those possibilities, but wasn't one of the most likely to be within his perception.

"Game Magic: Burning Desire," Gifso explained. "People talk, trying to find a way to get away…but have to first ask the right question to receive the right answer. You asked the right question…without even knowing what to ask…and got the right answer. Eh-heh! Your exit to the temple is right behind your magic creature."

Shinji turned to Guardian, just as a portal opened up behind him.

"Unpredictability," said Guardian as he got up. "Shall we?"

Shinji bowed his head to Gifso and went over to Guardian and the portal.

"Let's go do this thing!" He told Guardian and jumped through it with him.

The portal closed, leaving the High Priest with the Black Bull captain.

"There's a lot of magic in that boy," he told Yami. "Untapped, unmeasured and extremely powerful. I'd almost mistake him for nobility, but he's nothing like the ones I hear of."

"No, he comes from a family of nobility, but he's somewhere in between nobility and commoner. The girl with him is his aunt, and she's a noble who spent her whole life in another world where magic was nonexistent and their family had to wait a long time just to come back to this world. They say it was the young man that opened the door for them to return, but he was in a situation of his own that he had no say in…and it ended up being the last situation he was in before he ended up here, a place he only heard about in stories his grandmother and uncle told him of when he was little."

"House Ikari…is a family full of mystery and unfathomable power, whom some used to believe could rule the entire Clover Kingdom if they wanted to…but instead are content to living among the commoners and helping them out rather than be anything like most other houses that look the other way."

On a new screen that appeared in front of them, they could see Shinji and Guardian walking down a tunnel. With his grimoire floating beside him in its active state, Shinji was now sporting strange gauntlets that were aglow in blue.

"Is that some sort of Steel Magic?" Gifso asked Yami.

"I have no idea as to what magic that is," he responded. "He's able to use so many different forms of magic, even mixing two or more magic types that shouldn't go together, it could be any type of magic he's capable of performing. Steel and Light Magic, Copper and Fire Magic, or maybe just some other form of Union Magic."

"The Infinity Affinity is such an unusual power they possess."

-x-

"Hey, Asta," went Suki as she finally found the Anti Magic swordsman mage. "Where've you been hiding?"

"I wasn't hiding, I was looking for the others and… Whoa! What is that creature you're on?!" Asta asked, pointing to the winged horse she was riding.

"Solar Pegasus," she explained, "a Creation Magic spell. Any sign of where anyone else is?"

"No."

Suki used her locating spell again, this time to find Grey through her Transformation Magic; if Grey was by herself or with someone else, she'd likely hide herself as them because she hadn't overcome her shyness just yet, something she was trying to get past.

"Get on, Asta," she told the boy, getting a lock on Grey's magic. "We're going after Grey now."

Asta climbed onto the back of Solar Pegasus and they went further down the tunnel.

"Say, how were you able to find me, anyway?" He asked her.

"Anti Magic gives off an aura that's extremely different from other forms of magic. It's almost like searching a needle in a haystack, except the needle is at the very bottom of the haystack. You could almost say that I was looking for you through something beyond your magic, like a blood flow or a set of muddy footprints, something that only you could leave a trail to follow."

-x-

"…Yui requested a solo mission?" Tenshi asked Captain Vangeance when he was informed by Klaus that his sister wasn't at the Golden Dawn Headquarters, causing him to become curious.

"Yes, there was one mission that hadn't been resolved," William explained, "and she requested to handle it herself. She was pretty adamant about doing so."

 _More like secretive about it,_ Tenshi thought; he was hoping that by being on missions with Yui, he'd be able to keep an eye on her and monitor her actions, but if she went on solo missions, that made knowing what her intentions were more difficult to ascertain. _As much as I want to believe that she's just trying to increase her ranking, Yui has never had me convinced of anything about her, except how far she's willing to go to do something she wants to achieve._

"Possible jealousy, Tenshi?" William asked him. "You and Yui started out with the same rank. Could this be a race to see who rises up faster than the other sibling?"

Tenshi sighed and responded, "If only it were a race, Captain Vangeance. If only it were a race."

Dismissing himself, Tenshi returned to his quarters and decided to train with his magic spirits; he needed to be ready for anything short of what was within the foreseeable future.

Alecdora Sandler, whom he walked past, gave him a scornful glare, causing him to stop and face him in the hall.

"Is there something on your mind?" Tenshi asked him.

"Were you out there serving the peasants again?" Alecdora questioned.

"I wouldn't be a good person if I didn't help the people nobody else would," he answered. "Two Purple Orcas were problematic, and I had to deal with the issue the way I saw necessary."

"You're wasting your time assisting a pack of slum rats."

Tenshi kept his face neutral, but was offended by Sandler's remark about the people he helped as a Magic Knight and as a person. This was just another sign of how different he felt he was from most of the nobility due to living with commoners and peasants that had a softer side to their souls than this…this hardened viewpoint of which category of people deserved to be aided…and which category of people deserved to be ignored. But Tenshi couldn't ignore the commoners or peasants just because of a bunch of people that were born into lives of wealth, privilege and authority believed that they were above them. He needed to honor his family and himself by helping the less-fortunate in any way they could.

"I grew up around these people," he told Alecdora, expressing his opinion. "I hear their complaints, their desires, their fears, and every time I do hear them, I just think of how alike they are to the nobility. Someone wants something at some point in their lives, whether it's an object, a space, or just another person to spend time with. For some, the reason is as obvious as a sense of greed or pride, and for others, it's because they simply want to make their lives easier for their families, where everyday can be spent trying to decide how you're going to enjoy a period of your time and not worry about something that you can worry about later. I have nothing against people that come from meager beginnings; there is a strength in them that has yet to be shown that can match or even exceed the strength of those that have known power their whole lives. I can respect them, even admire them to various extents. And yes, it's true that there are some that are cruel and fueled by darkened desires that lead them to commit devious acts that render them irredeemable, the same is true with the nobility, only they have the means to enable their acts to get overlooked from time to time. In the end, though, it all comes down to choice…and causality. The action that one takes…and the consequential reaction that comes afterward. Cause and effect. Do I choose to look the other way and let a commoner or peasant suffer…or do I do something to alleviate their suffering without crossing personal and moral lines? I'll choose the road most moral every time. Which road will you choose, Alecdora Sandler?"

"I choose the road to fulfill Captain Vangeance's dream," he answered.

"Okay," Tenshi responded, and then walked away; this elitist clearly had blind loyalty to the captain…but lacked his own ambitions, his own goals. _I pity him._

-x-

RUMBLE! Something shook the temple with enough force to unsettle Shinji and make Guardian pause in the tunnel.

"You felt that, too?" Shinji asked him.

"Enemy magic is here," Guardian stated. "The Third Eye is here. I'm guessing that they forced their way through the barrier, as well. Against one, we were all but assured victory. Against all three, it will take fierce determination, faith in oneself and others, and teamwork."

"Many of these requirements the Third Eye may not embrace wholeheartedly."

Shinji's grimoire floated in front of him and flipped through a few pages to a new spell that he hadn't used before.

"Compass Scale Magic," he uttered, summoning a brass set of scales and a compass that was attached to its base. "Safety/Danger Seeker."

This spell functioned as a means of detecting a path that would lead to either a safe zone or a danger zone. Shinji had studied the spell, but this was his first time using it; his objective was to use it to know which direction he took led to friends or possible enemies. The scale on his left was tilting down, indicating that the path to his left was a danger zone, meaning the path on his right was a potential safe zone. But Shinji had no intention of going right when going left meant doing his job as a Magic Knight.

"Tell me, what do you think our chances of being able to best all three of the Third Eye at once?" Shinji asked Guardian as they ran down the left path.

"With the increase in mana and spells you and your squad mates have, the chances of besting all three are half and half," Guardian answered; he didn't want to give too much faith in beating a trio of rogue mages when he could only see possibilities over the actual outcome. "You have to show determination in yourself and strength in your conviction to get these three. Who knows for certain, maybe if your squad captures these three, it could mean a substantial rank increase. You'd all cease to be Junior Magic Knights and be Intermediate Magic Knights. That's what I want to believe to be possible for each of you."

"But for something like that to happen, we have to capture all three."

BLAST! They heard an explosion further down the tunnel and ran faster to the end of it.

"Fire Creation Magic," they heard Magna's voice. "Burning Ape!"

Reaching the end and entering a large cavern, they saw Magna, Luck, Finral, Noelle and some people dressed in robes like those of the people that lived in the Seabed Temple, wearing sea creature-themed masks…and the three mages that gave the Black Bulls a challenge.

"What'd we miss?!" Shinji shouted, getting their attention.

Magna's Fire Magic spell had collided with Fana's Fire Spirit Magic spell, forcing the fire spirit Salamander, which had gotten a little bigger since their initial encounter, backwards. After which Magna's fire creation extinguished, no longer supported by his mana.

Fana was pushed back by the force of the collision between the fire spells, feeling further enraged by being somewhat-outpaced by some…delinquent mage.

"You wretched…ill-bred…disgraceful person," she addressed Magna, her voice rising in tone and demonstrating more expressive emotion. "You disgrace the mana."

Holding up a fiery baseball bat, Magna pointed it at her and expressed, "Why don't you smile once in a while, and then we'll know who disgraces what?"

"You didn't miss much," went Noelle to Shinji, looking at Rhya as he was facing her and one of the sea-themed people that didn't have a mask on, revealing themselves to be a young woman a bit older than her. "Be careful around this guy. He got near my and somehow copied two of my spells for his grimoire."

Shinji looked at Rhya again and saw Noelle's Water Healing Magic spell behind him…but it looked off by a degree.

"Imitation Magic," said Guardian. "This mage can copy other spells and use them as his own, but he's at a disadvantage in the way his magic works."

Then, looking over at Vetto, who was preoccupied by Luck and Finral, unable to land any blows towards either because of the Spatial Magic and Lightning Magic at work, Shinji decided to take on Rhya.

"Let's handle the copycat first, Guardian," he told him.

"Gladly," Guardian agreed, and they jumped into the air.

-x-

Returning to her home in Hage, Rika sighed as she kicked off her sandals and walked to the kitchen. There had been a minor shower of snow that had covered Hage by the time she got back from the capital after spending her time either providing her knowledge of the past or just re-exploring the ruins of her family's ancestral home grounds. A while ago, the Wizard King had made another suggestion that she could be an information source for the Order of the Magic Knights due to her knowledge of the past from over fifteen-hundred years ago, however small or large the information might've been, just an occupation for her to freely choose, and while she hadn't declined the offer just yet, Rika was considering it.

 _Except there's more information to the past that wasn't salvaged in the relics we reclaimed after our return,_ she thought as she sat down at the kitchen counter with a cup of tea in her hands. _A lot can go missing during a fifteen-hundred-year absence, either through incidents of theft or destruction…or intentional acts of trying to destroy the past as much as possible. There were also some weapons that weren't in the collection of salvaged items the Clover Kings of the past kept for us. Whether they were stolen or lost, they'd be useless in anyone else's possession…and they can't be destroyed; our family's ancestors knew exactly what they were doing when they harnessed the power to create indestructible items that would outlast the breaths of the heartbeat. And there was an archive of information on at least three dozen magical beings that were captured at some point in the past by some of our ancestors, but I couldn't find anything relating to them. In any society, knowledge is a source of power because what you don't know about can be dangerous if you take it only at face value._

Then, she took out her grimoire from her pouch on her side and opened it to the hardback covering's inner left side, looking at an old inscription she had made two years after she had received it during the Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony she had attended when the time came for her to receive her grimoire. _"Do what ye will, so long as thou harms none"_ was what she inscribed, a long-time reminder of what her mother and grandmother had taught her about one of the most rudimentary teachings of magic's morality when it came to helping or harming others. During her exile in Japan, she had decided to research what passed as a magical belief around the generations, and discovered the lore and practice of Wicca, which had some similarities to what the people of this world practiced or preached. Basically, anyone with a measure of magic in their being, able to do things no other person could achieve, had to follow this moral rule of how they did anything, and as long as they weren't harming people with the way they performed a spell, they could do as they desired. But Rika knew this knowledge was both a blessing and a curse, because everyone was different and not everyone chooses to follow the rule of morality.

"And the Magic Knights and this Eye of the Midnight Sun are examples of the limitations of this rule," she sighed; the Magic Knights used magic to serve the Clover Kingdom to protect its people from any and all threats made against the country, but they harmed the bringers of said threats, and the Eye of the Midnight Sun threatened to harm the Clover Kingdom, thus using magic to backup their intentions, including harming the people. "But the knights are the order and authority of the kingdom while the rogue mages are the chaos. Order and chaos, right and wrong, light…and dark, yin…and yang."

Sighing again, she tapped her left index finger on the inscription, reflecting on the days of her teens when she was just starting out with her advanced education into the art of magic.

Flash! She looked up and saw that she was surrounded in darkness, standing in front of a creature she had never seen before.

It was dark, stood as tall as a human with exceptional height, looked to be armored from top to bottom, and was clearly an unpleasant sight to behold. The way it looked from a physiological standing, however, was what disturbed Rika the most: It appeared to be reptilian, but its facial structure and feet were somewhat mammalian, with a pair of large, curved horns on its head and hoofed feet. There was some fur or hair on the sides of the arms and legs, likely singed or a sign of decay, and a scarlet-colored feather boa wrapped around its neck, mimicking a lion's mane. If Rika had to guess, this creature seemed to be associated with the Anti-Magic creature that could emerge from Shinji's grimoire…but she didn't feel any degree of Anti Magic emanating from it like she had with the other one.

"Guardian of the Void?" She asked it.

Glaring and baring its fangs, which appeared jagged and crooked everywhere in its snout, the beast responded, "You wish I was that morally-driven cretin!"

Flash! Rika was back in the kitchen, away from that strange creature…and relieved.

 _That…that thing…wasn't emanating Anti Magic,_ she realized, trying to recall which form of magic the being had been emanating from its body when she saw it. _It wasn't Dark Magic. Maybe Poison Magic? No, Dream Magic? No, it was too displeasing when it spoke to me. I know I felt that type of magic from somewhere before, but where…and what magic was it? What was that creature?_

Then, looking down at the countertop in front of her, Rika's eyes widened. Above her grimoire was a word that looked as though it had been carved right into the marble…by something vicious. _"Harbinger"_ was what it said, and she had to wonder what, if anything, it meant.

 _Harbinger?_

-x-

"…That thing doesn't look anything like the one with Shinji," said Asuka as she and the others had saw the picture of Rika with whatever that other creature was with the horns.

"It gives me the creeps," Kaji expressed. "Has 'dangerous' written all over it."

"I'd rather say that it's evil," Misato shared her opinion.

"It does look evil," Fuyutsuki added; his opinion was based solely on the fact that the creature clearly disturbed him. "The one with Shinji gave off a positive attitude…if somewhat mysterious in the way it speaks."

Gendo turned to the next page…but ended up skipping several more pages in the album like before, resulting in a picture of what looked to be worse for Shinji than what they saw earlier.

"Gott im Himmel," Asuka gasped, seeing the young man about to be attacked by the beast man, already bleeding from his sides and on his knees, looking like he was getting ready to return to the paradise he was sent away from.

"Dammit!" Misato expressed, turning the pages back to the intended page. "If you can't turn to just one page, then you shouldn't turn any of them."

On the desired page, they all saw Shinji facing Rhya, the latter of whom looked as though he would rather face someone that didn't have a strange monster for an ally. This was on the top page on the left side while the photo under it depicted Suki and three other Black Bulls (Vanessa, Gordon and Asta) entering the large cavern.

" _You three won't be enough to best us for the magic stone,"_ they heard Shinji say.

" _The three of us aren't what you'd expect from an opponent,"_ they heard Rhya respond.

" _You should've brought more."_

Rei looked at the picture at the bottom of the right page and saw Shinji…bashing Rhya in the face…with his own grimoire.

"What is Ikari-Kun doing with his grimoire?" She questioned, confused by this action he was doing that held no logic.

To be continued…

A/N: Sorry to leave you guessing what happens next, but all good things come to those who wait. Hopefully, some of you will wonder if there's a way to deal with Imitation Magic that most wouldn't think to do in the next chapter.


	27. Harbinger

Creation began on 09-22-19

Creation ended on 09-30-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Harbinger

A/N: The Void holds more than what we can possibly imagine…and there's no telling who could be either living there or imprisoned there.

He heard that Guardian of the Void had periodically left the Void again, something about a new chosen one for the grimoire that had belonged to the original member of this House Ikari that possessed it. And it infuriated him to no end, to be periodically reminded that the beast that once had no identity, that would've wandered aimlessly for centuries, maybe even millennia, would now serve as a protector to another young person that was bound to a dark destiny. There wasn't a day, a year, not even a millennium that went by where he didn't let his fury over Guardian's ability to come and go in the Void, to keep him and various other beings that were deemed too dangerous by these standards of morality and mortality to run wild in the world of humanity. But none of this deterred him from his own objective; he would find a way to escape from the Void with his band of followers…and get revenge on Guardian and all who were affiliated with him.

"That wretched animal that serves a family of humans," he uttered as he paced around the cave that served as his domain in the Void. "When he's not serving as our prison guard, he's out there, wherever that grimoire is that he bound himself to, probably basking in the sunlight, eating meals of the highest quality, teaching his new master how to control magic."

As his own rage boiled over the possibility of Guardian being out in the world, doing what humans would refer to as "living it up", even if such a thing seemed unlikely due to how House Ikari, what he knew to be the strongest house in all the Clover Kingdom's royal and noble bloodlines, preferred to live among the peasants that resided in the Forsaken Realm, where wealth and luxury were just a distraction from the problems of the least fortunate. No, he just wanted to believe that Guardian was enjoying a good day out somewhere while training his new protectorate to escape the wretched fate they've been dealt with. But soon, soon…he knew the Guardian of the Void would slip up, fall, lose the one thing that mattered most to himself…and he'd be there to watch it happen.

" _Once in the Void, the pact made between you and the Silvas that summoned you to kill the Ikaris is nullified,"_ Guardian had once told him after he and the original Ikari to hold the grimoire he would one day pass on, winding up in this world beyond worlds. _"Put quite simply, Harbinger…you no longer need to follow the pact that the Silvas made with you. Don't let this hatred bleed into your soul."_

" _Oh, their hatred of your family doesn't need to bleed into my soul, you mortal fool,"_ Harbinger had stated as he sank into the soil of the Void where he remains imprisoned to the here and now. _"I have always hated any and all other creatures that exist in a world swarming with life. I exist for one purpose and one purpose only: To bring about the death and destruction of all forms of life, down to the very last organism. It is for this purpose that I was named Harbinger of Death and Destruction…because I am the one thing…nobody can keep from coming. One day, I'll be back…to finish what I started when I entered the pact with House Silva born out of their spite towards your family. All I need…is to enter a pact with another person…and this all begins again. And out there, either in the present or the future, is someone that will look to make a pact with me in exchange for what they desire to happen, for better or for worse. And we cannot deny…that there is always someone out there that desires something…and will go to whatever lengths they feel they must to make it happen."_

" _But so long as you're trapped here, nobody will be able to enter into a pact with you,"_ said the young Ikari that was holding onto his left side. _"We'll make sure you can't enter into a pact with anyone, make sure that there's a record of information so that everyone knows what you are…and what you're capable of. Only an arrogant soul and resentful heart would desire to make a pact with you, Harbinger."_

And as he understood with humans, excluding their capacity for magic in a world where magic was everything, their only true power…was their limited cognition. Their…ability to understand certain things, like how to create and use tools, or their ability to recall information…and their arrogance. All of their sense of vanity, sense of self-importance, ego, pride, greed or desperation, many of which hinted to him, if not outright telling him, that out of all living creatures, humans were the most disgraceful and corruptive organisms he had encountered and was disgusted with…but were the only creatures smart enough to be manipulated by their sense of desire…and which, in turn, made him dependent upon them in order to express his own power.

 _But all I have to do is wait,_ he thought as time continued to pass by in the Void. _There is a human out there, willing to do whatever it takes to get their way, willing to pay any price in exchange for something they desire to happen. When that day comes and they're desperate enough to do anything, I'll be there to enter a new pact._

" _Everything happens as it must,"_ he thought he heard a woman's voice just then, raising his head up and looking around his prison domain.

"Someone sounds like they're getting irritable over something that can't progress without a further influence," he told himself. "Maybe the best way to dispose of House Ikari for good…is through one of their own who's willing to do anything to achieve their goals, including the wrong things."

But the voice he heard was sparingly, indicating that the human in question was not strong enough for him to reach out to. However, he wasn't deterred by a lack of fortitude in the amount of magic unleashed. Harbinger would bide his time, wait for them to get stronger, and then they'll reach out to him…and he would answer. All good things come to those who wait, and he had all the time in the universe to wait for a new chance to finish what he was unleashed to do.

To be continued…

A/N: Mages, beware for we have a new threat yet to be unleashed.


End file.
